Scripture; for it is written, " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, is one Lord;" [1] again, " Thou shall not have strange gods before me," [2] is the command of God: and again he often admonishes us by the prophet, " I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God." [3] The Apostle also expressly declares; " one Lord, one faith, one Baptism." [4] It should not, however, excite our surprise if the Sacred Scriptures sometimes give the name of God to creatures: [5] for when they call the prophets and judges gods, they do so not after the manner of the Gentiles; who, in their folly and impiety, formed to themselves many gods; but in order to express, by a manner of speaking then not unusual, some eminent quality or function conferred on them by the divine munificence. Christian faith, therefore, believes and professes, as is declared in the Nicene Creed in confirmation of this truth, that God in his nature, substance and essence is one; but soaring still higher, it so understands him to be one that it adores unity in trinity and trinity in unity. Of this mystery we now proceed to speak, as it comes next in order in the Creed.
" THE FATHER"] As God is called " Father" for more reasons than one, we must first determine the strictly appropriated meaning of the word in the present instance. Some also on whom the light of faith never shone, conceived God to be an eternal substance from whom all things had their beginning, by whose providence they are governed and preserved in their order and state of existence. As, therefore, he, to whom a family owes its origin, and by whose wisdom and authority it is governed, is called a father; so by analogy from things human, God was called Father, because acknowledged to be the creator and governor of the universe. The Sacred Scriptures also use the same appellation, when, speaking of God, they declare that to him the creation of all things, power and admirable providence, are to be ascribed: for we read, " Is not he thy Father that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee?" [6] And again, " Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?" [7]
But God, particularly in the New Testament, is much more frequently, and in some sense peculiarly called the Father of Christians, who "have not received the spirit of bondage in fear, but have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby they cry abba Father;" [8] " for the Father hath bestowed on us that manner of charity, that we should be called, and be the sons of God;" [9] " and if sons, heirs also, heirs, indeed, of God, and joint-heirs with Christ," [10] "who is the first-born amongst many brethren, [11] for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." [12] Whether, therefore, we look to the common title of creation and conservation; or to the special one of spiritual adoption,
