MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA TREATISE I. 10. THE UNITY OF GOD.
BACICCIO
Apotheosis of St Ignatius
c. 1685
TREATISE I.
10. THE UNITY OF GOD.
I. The next great truth after the existence of God is His
Unity. " Know that the Lord He is God, and there is no
other besides Him " (Deut. iv. 35). This is a wonderful and
a necessary perfection. There is a striking grandeur in the
idea of a One, sole, supreme, unequalled Being. The Gentile
multiplication of gods was ignoble and debased ; it was destructive of the very idea of the supreme infinite God as
revealed by Moses and Our Divine Lord. Sovereignty,
omnipotence, infinity, perfection, independence are meaning
less terms as soon as we attempt to conceive them as divided
amongst a number of equal beings. Supremacy is necessarily vested in one or it does not exist. The multiplication
of beings is an acknowledgment that no one of them is absolutely perfect : it is a vain attempt to make up the perfection
which does not exist in any one of them. So, too, the
authoritative manifestation of God in religion must be one
and sole. The idea of a multiplicity of religions, all equally
good, is a survival of that tendency to deterioration which
expressed itself of old in polytheism. If religion be the
divine system for the communication of truth and grace, it
does not need to be multiplied, like the cells of an electric
battery, in proportion to the increase of the circuit. Religion is a representation of God, and is the exercise of His
divine action. A number of them, if they are uniform, are
at variance with the supreme unity of God ; if they are contradictory, they cannot be the manifestation of Him who
is harmony and peace. Thank God for calling you to a
Church whose unity proclaims its divine origin and its all-
sufficiency.
II. Reason, proceeding on the data which the visible
world supplies, sufficiently indicates the Unity of God,
Science shows us a surpassing unity underlying all things,
and carries us back towards one great original principle of
life, motion and law. Harmony and strength are marks of
all the works of God ; and the source of them is unity and
not division. Divided power is weakness, divided authority
is no authority. In the spiritual and religious sphere, even
more than in nature, we should expect to find the impress of
God s Unity. If there is to be among men unity of mind and
heart, of doctrine, worship and morals, there must be unity
of spiritual laws and religious organization. Disorder and
contradiction do not accord with the Divine Ideal. No
kingdom divided against itself shall stand. One Church
alone maintains the principle of unity and possesses unity in
itself. Endeavour always to promote " the unity of the
spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 3).
III. In relation to man individually, the unity of God
demands unity of service from us. We cannot serve two
masters ; we must serve God alone " with all our heart, with
all our soul, with all our strength, with all our mind." If
we render partial service to the world or any creature, to
our pride, our interests or our lusts, we are putting a false
god in Gods place. It is equivalent to dividing our loyalty
among a number of gods, or attempting to worship God
simultaneously in discordant religions; it is compounding
together light and darkness, truth and falsehood. Our
hearts are too small to love the one great Being sufficiently : much more insufficient is their service if part of it
be withdrawn and bestowed on creatures. In any pursuit
we can only secure success by concentrating all our thoughts
and energies upon it alone. In this respect, the children of
light may well take a lesson from the children of this world.
Seek God alone and always. Let one principle guide your
life in all its diverse operations. Let nothing turn you from
the path of consistency, from whole-hearted loyalty and
affection towards God. Do not dissipate your energies on
any other object ; but let all the various duties of life look
to God and be turned to His service.
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES BELLORD, D.D.
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