V. Substance and Mode of the Scripture Teaching. — "In the Scriptures no attempt is made to prove the existence of a God. The error of men consisted not in denying a God, but in admitting too many ; and one great object of the Bible is to demonstrate that there is but one. No metaphysical arguments, however, are employed in it for tliis purpose. The proof rests on facts recorded in the history of the Jews, from wliich it appears that they were always victorious and pros- perous so long as they served the only living raid true God, Jehovah (the name bj' which the Almighty made himself known to them), and uniformly unsuccessful when the}' revolted from him to serve other gods. What argument could be so effectual to convince them that there was no god in all the earth but the God of Israel .' The sovereignty and universal providence of the Lord Jehovah are proved bv' predictions delivered by the Jewish prophets, pointing out the fate of na- tions and of empires, specifj'ing distinctly their rise, tlie duration of their power, and the causes of their de- cline; thus demonstrating that one God ruled among the nations, and made tliem the unconscious instru- ments of promoting the purposes of his will. In the same manner, none of the attributes of God are demon- strated in Scripture bj' reasoning : they are simph' af- firmed and illustrated by facts ; and instead of a regu- lar deduction of doctrines and conclusions from a few admitted principles, we are left to gather them from the recorded feelings and devotional expressions of persons whose hearts were influenced by the fear of God. These circumstances point out a marked singu- larity in the Scriptures, considered as a repository of religious doctrines. The writers, generalh" speaking, do not reason, but exhort and remonstrate ; they do not attempt to fetter the judgment by the subtleties of argument, but to rouse the feelings liy an appeal to palpable fticts. This is exactlj' what might have been expected from teachers acting under a divine commis- sion, and armed with undeniable facts to enforce their admonitions. The sacred writers furnish us with in- formation on the existence and the character of God (1) from the names bj' which he is designated ; ("2) from the actions ascribed to him ; and (3) from the attributes with which he is invested.
"1. The names of God as recorded in Scripture con- vej' at once ideas of overwhelming greatness and glorj-, mingled with that awful m3'steriousness with which, to all finite minds, and especially to the minds of mor- tals, the divine essence and mode of existence must ever be invested. Though One, he is C'!l'~X, El- OHiM, Gods, persons adorable. He is iT^iT^, Jeho- vah, self-existing ; PX, El, the Mighty, Almighty ; "''Hllj, Shaddai, omnipotent, all-sufficient ; ^D"IN, Adonai, Lord, Ruler, Judge. These are among the adorable appellatives of God which are scattered throughout the
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revelation that he has been pleased to make of himself. But on one occasion he was pleased more particularly to declare his name, that is, such of the qualities and attributes of the divine nature as mortals are the most interested in knowing, and to unfold not only his nat- nr.il, but also those of his moral attributes by which his conduct towards his creatures is regulated: 'And the Lord passed l)y and proclaimed. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilt)'; visiting the inicpiity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's cliildren unto the third and fourth gen- eration" (Lxod. xxxiv). This is the most ample and particular description of the character of God, as given by himself in the Old Testament" (Watson). The name " which is above every name" (Phil, ii, 9), is the name Jesus (Col. iii, 17). The name in Exod. iii, 14 is peculiar in denoting God as the "God who reveals himself." The declaration "/ «??i that I am" or "7 uill be that I uill he" does not so much include a pred- icate of God as a declaration of the eternal being of God, as revealing himself and his kingdom in time ; it involves not merely the sense of existence (to which it is limited by the Septuagint version o on'), but also the idea of the continual self-revealing of God, and thus unifies, so to speak, all the successive steps and epochs of revelation. He is "<A« Alpha and Omega, the he- ginning and the ending, ichich is, and which uxis, and which ig to come — the Almighty" (Rev. i, 8). The name Jehovah was too holy to be uttered, and others were substituted for it h\ the Jews ; the fearful penalty for blaspheming it was death (Lev. xxiv, IG ; see Clarke's note ad loc,'). In the names Father and Redeemer (Lsa. Ixiii, IG), new elements of the cliaracter of the self- revealing Jehovah are set fortli; he sliows himself as the God of grace and love to his people who turn unto him. — Watson, Institutes, pt. ii, c. i ; Nitzsch, in Iler- zog's Jieal-Encyllop. s. v. Gott ; Hengstenberg, Die Gottcsnamen des Pentateuch ; Knapp, Theology (^^'ood's ed. p. 84) ; Lange, On Genesis, Introd. § 7.