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regarded as decisive proof that He is not three, but one. The oneness of Father, Son and Holy Ghost signifies not one person, or one being, but union in testimony, in nature, in action; a perfect oneness without the least possibility of the contrary. This oneness of the Father and Son harmonizes with that union which was intended by Christ when he prayed to the Father, that his disciples might be one, even as he and the Father were one. In this sense I present the Unity of God. "There is One God, the Father," and "One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father."

God's unity is also manifest from his perfection. Since he is competent to do all that is done, there is no reason to suppose the existence of another God.

The unity of design in the world also indicates one God. Suppose several Deities to be engaged in the creation of the world; if any one of them excels in power, then he alone is to be called God, and the others must be his inferiors. Suppose them equal in power, in which case either one of them might have created the world, and therefore be God; or suppose the power of each alone was insufficient, and they united their powers to create the world, then this united power constituted the One God. We conclude on this point with the language of Moses: " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord."

OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD.

By the term Omnipotence is meant, that there is no effect intrinsically possible for which the power of God is insufficient. He is able to do all things. To declare that he cannot make the same thing to be and not to be, is no detraction from his omnipotence; for these are but effects to which power, however great, is irrelevant. Omnipotence is just as unable to create two hills with no valley between them; or to make two and four nine; or a fourth equal to a whole, as the feeblest child. "All things are possible with God;" but there is a difference between things and absurdities. The above named propositions very appropriately come under the class of absurdities. These things cannot be done by God, because they are impossible in their own nature. God cannot do any thing that is repugnant to his other perfections; he cannot lie, nor deceive, nor deny himself; for this would be injurious to his truth. He

cannot love sin nor punish innocence. This would destroy his goodness and his holiness. In a word, since all the attributes of God are essentially the same, a power in him which tends to des. troy any other attribute of the divine nature, must be a power destructive of itself.

In order to understand how God can be absolutely omnipotent over the universe, we must keep in mind that he is a Spirit. If God were material, he would be subject to the laws of matter. Instead of His giving laws to nature, nature would give laws to him. A being ceases to be material, the moment he ceases to be subject to the uniform modes of physical sequences. Whatever is material must be subject to the laws of attraction and gravitation. We cannot conceive of Almighty power over nature except as it exists in a living Spirit. Spirit is the source of all power. There is no evidence that matter has any power. God is an infinite Spirit; and this gives to him, and to him alone, almighty power over all nature. God's omnipotence therefore appears in his creating and controlling the material universe.

From the greatness and preservation of the Universe we infer the vast power of God. The creation of the smallest particle of matter, is an astonishing display of power. Nothing short of Om. nipotence is adequate to create even a particle of dust or a drop of water. Extend this thought, and what must be the power which created our earth, and the multitude of globes in the heavens above us? How vast becomes the idea when the hundreds of millions of fixed stars become suns, and each a sun to a system of worlds! All this is but the beginning of the entire creation-a mere drop in the ocean. O! then, how amazing the power that is superior to all created matter.

This energy of God which creates is requisite also to control it. "He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." All is wisely controlled, notwithstanding their vastness and variety. "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handy work." "He spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; he maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the South; he doeth great things past finding out, yea, and wonders without number. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in the thick clouds, and the

clouds is not rent under them; he hath compassed the waters with bounds until the day and night cometh to an end." "By him all things consist." He breaketh for the sea "a decreed place, and setteth bars and doors, and says, Bitherto shalt thou come and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." "He looketh to the end of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven, to make the weight of the winds, to weigh the waters by measure, to make a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder.” "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hands, meted out heaven with a span, comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the winds in a balance."

The weight of matter that constitutes our globe equals, at least, two hundred trillions of tons; and a power adequate to move it a single foot, would be almost beyond the power of numbers to express. It does move, however, through space at a rate of sixtyeight thousand miles an hour, or one hundred and forty times swifter than a cannon ball. Jupiter is more than a thousand times larger than this earth, and its velocity through the heavens is twenty-nine thousand miles an hour. Let our minds still expand taking the discoveries of modern astronomers, and we ascend, in our contemplations, to a bewildering and mysterious height. Yet we tremble not, lest that controlling Energy should at some instant falter, and the Universe fall into ruins. Our confidence rests in the reflection that this immense machinery of worlds has already been sustained for ages, impelled and guided by the power of God. Re ceiving the Omnipotence of God we are ready to exclaim: "In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." The basis of this attri. bute lies in the infinity of the divine nature.

The creation of the material universe is a manifestation of astonishing power; but no less does the omnipotence of God appear in the creation of the moral universe. The creation of soul implies a higher exercise of power than the creation of matter. The creation of a soul is the forming of a mysterious essence into a most wonderful piece of spiritual mechanism. The works of God in nature present most splendid exhibitions of material mechanism; but the best of these is quite coarse compared with a rational soul. Its power of easy and intense action is amazing, as are also its rapid, delicate and silent motions.

"For I Give you Good Doctrine."---Bible.

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Nothing in matter can vie with the soul. It is invested with a power that no material substance can present. It possesses the power of perceiving, thinking, choosing; of acquiring knowledge, of forming character, and of sustaining a relation of accountability to the eternal throne of God. In this consideration the creation of a single soul is a more illustrious display of power than the creation of the Universe. If one soul thus displays omnipotence, let us rise higher and contemplate the fact that more than eight hundred millions of souls inhabit this globe of ours. Passing still higher, we contemplate the millions of intelligent minds that tower above us towards the supreme I AM. The contemplation of heaven's armies, extending beyond the loftiest flights of imagination, overwhelms us until we are completely lost in admiration of the power of Him who is the Creator, and in whose hand is the soul of every living thing.

The descriptions of the Divine Power are often terrible. "The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof; he divideth the sea by his power. He removeth the mountains and they know it not; he overturneth them in his anger; he shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble; he commandeth the sun and it riseth not, and he sealeth up the stars." The same absolute subjection of created intelligences to his dominion also exists. Angels, men the most exalted, and evil de mons are controlled with as much ease as the resistless elements. "He maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." This Omnipotent God, "sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers," "as the dust of the balance," "He bringeth princes to nothing."

The closing scenes of this world may complete these transcendent conceptions of the majesty and power of God. Before his face

heaven and earth flee away, the stars fall and the powers of heaven are shaken.

Such, then, is the omnipotence of God, omnipotent to create and omnipotent to control. This is done with ease astonishing and striking. Such is the hiding of his power that we scarcely know he is at work before the wonderful production stands forth in finished beauty. All is silent, calm and gentle. This is the highest perfection of power; imagination herself, with boldest wing, can rise to no higher conception. In the midst of such contemplation, there is an instinctive emotion of wonder and joy, prompting the inspired exclamation, "Alleluia; for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."

OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.

This implies that God is in every part of the universe at the same time; and this is an exclusive attribute of a purely spiritual being. Matter is of necessity local. It must occupy space. It is also a known law of matter that the same or equal portions of it cannot at the same time occupy the same space. God being a pure spirit, he can be strictly omnipresent. This could not be if he was matter, unless the pantheistic theory be true, that everything is a part of God.

The omnipresence of God is corroborated by facts obvious to all reflecting beings, though to us, and perhaps to all finite minds, the mode may be uncomprehensible. The language of inspiration upon this subject is given in its own peculiar tone of emphasis, majesty and beauty: "Whither shall I go from thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, thy right hand shall hold me. Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? Though he dig into hell, there shall my hand take him ; though he climb up into heaven, there will I bring him down; and though he hide himself in the top of Carmel, I will search and take him out from there. In him we live and move and have our being. He filleth all things." God, therefore, can people all space with physical creations, and yet pervade the entire universe with his own being. The doctrine of God's omnipresence is obvi

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