5. 上帝的唯一
因著對上帝的瞭解而接受上帝, 這應當是全部神學內容的精髓和靈魂。有必要先討論上帝的唯一。接下來按下列次序逐一論述:
(1)全部聖言, 以及基督徒世界中的教會從聖言得出的教義, 都
教導有一位上帝。
(2)上帝存在,且只有一位, 這樣的公認普遍注入到人類的靈魂之中。
(3)結果, 全世界中但凡擁有宗教與常理的每個民族都承認上帝的存在,且只有一位。
(4)因著種種緣由, 不同的民族和不同的百姓對這位上帝的屬性曾經持有不同見解, 至今仍舊如此。
(5)基於世間諸多現象, 人的理性能認識到並得出結論:有上帝存在, 並且只有一位。
(6)倘若上帝不是一位, 宇宙無法被造或維持。
(7)凡不承認上帝者與教會隔絕並被譴罰。
(8)凡認多神而非接受一位上帝者, 與教會無半點關連。
5. The Oneness of God
The very essence and soul of everything in a comprehensive theology is the acknowledgment of God [arising] from a concept of him. Therefore it is necessary to begin with the oneness of God, and to prove it point by point:
1. The whole of Sacred Scripture teaches that there is one God, and therefore so do the theologies of the churches in the Christian world.
2. The recognition that God exists and that there is one God flows universally into human souls.
3. As a result, every nation in the whole world that possesses religion and sound reason acknowledges that God exists and that there is one God.
4. For various reasons, different nations and peoples have had and still have a diversity of opinions on the nature of that one God.
5. On the basis of many phenomena in the world, human reason is capable of perceiving and concluding, if it wants to, that God exists and that there is one God.
6. If there were not one God the universe could not have been created or maintained.
7. Those who do not acknowledge God are cut off from the church and damned.
8. Nothing about the church is integrated in people who acknowledge many gods rather than one.
These points will be explored one by one.
5. THE ONENESS OF GOD
Since the acknowledgment of God which comes from knowing Him is the very essence and soul of every dogma in all theology, I must begin by speaking of the oneness of God. This will be demonstrated in the following series of propositions.
(i) The whole of the Sacred Scripture and all doctrines extracted from it by churches throughout Christendom teach that there is one God.
(ii) There is a general feeling [emanating from God and] 1 flowing into men's souls that there is a God, and that He is one.
(iii) That is why there is no nation throughout the World possessed of religion and sound reason which does not acknowledge God and the fact that He is one.
(iv) There are many reasons why nations and peoples have formed varying ideas of the nature of that one God, and continue to do so.
(v) There are many things in the world which can lead the human reason, if it wishes, to grasp and deduce that there is a God and that He is one.
(vi) If there had not been one God, the universe could not have been created and kept in existence.
(vii) Any person who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the church and damned.
(viii) The church cannot hold together at all in the case of a person who acknowledges not one God, but several.
These propositions will be expounded one by one.
Footnotes:
1. The words in brackets are supplied from the repetition of this proposition in 8.
5. THE UNITY OF GOD.
As the acknowledgment of God from a knowledge of God is the very essence and soul of the entire contents of theology, it is necessary that the unity of God should be the first thing treated of. This shall be set forth in order in the following sections:
(1) The entire Holy Scripture, and the doctrines therefrom of the churches in the Christian world, teach that God is one.
(2) There is a universal influx [from God] into the souls of men of the truth that there is a God, and that He is one.
(3) For this reason there is in all the world no nation possessing religion and sound reason that does not acknowledge a God, and that God is one.
(4) Respecting what the one God is, nations and peoples have differed and still differ, from many causes.
(5) Human reason can, if it will, perceive and be convinced, from many things in the world, that there is a God, and that He is one.
(6) If God were not one, the universe could not have been created and preserved.
(7) Whoever does not acknowledge a God is excommunicated from the church and condemned.
(8) With the man who acknowledges several Gods instead of one, there is no coherence in the things relating to the church.
These propositions shall be unfolded one by one.
5. THE UNITY OF GOD.
Since the acknowledgment of God from a rational conception of Him is the very essence and soul of Theology, it is necessary to begin with the Unity of God. This will be demonstrated under the following headings:
(1) The whole of the Sacred Scripture, and the Doctrines thence derived of the Churches in the Christian World, teach that God is one.
(2) There is a universal influx into the souls of men that there is a God, and that He is one.
(3) Thus there is no nation in the whole world, possessing religion and sound reason, which does not acknowledge that there is a God, and that He is one.
(4) As to the nature of this one God nations and peoples have differed and still differ, from several causes.
(5) Human reason may, if it will, perceive and conclude from many things in the world, that there is a God, and that He is one.
(6) Unless God were one, the universe could not have been created and preserved.
(7) The man who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the church, and condemned.
(8) With the man who does not acknowledge one God but several, no principle of the church remains.
Each of these propositions will now be treated in order.
5. DE UNITATE DEI.
Quoniam agnitio Dei ex cognitione Ejus est ipsa essentia et anima omnium in Universa Theologia, necessum est, ut exordium fiat de UNITATE DEI, quae in ordine per Articulos demonstrabitur, qui erunt,
I. Quod tota 1 Scriptura Sacra, et inde Doctrinae Ecclesiarum in Christiano Orbe doceant, quod Deus unus sit.
II. Quod universalis influxus 2 in animas hominum sit, quod Deus sit, et quod unus.
III. Inde est, quod in Universo Mundo non detur Gens, cui religio et sana ratio, quae non agnoscit Deum, et Deum unum esse.
IV. Quod qualis ille Deus unus est, gentes et populi abiverint et abeant in diversum, ex pluribus causis.
V. Quod Ratio humana ex multis in Mundo percipere aut concludere possit, si vult, quod Deus sit, et quod unus sit.
VI. Quod nisi unus Deus foret, non potuisset Universum creari et conservari.
VII. Quod homo, qui non agnoscit Deum, ab Ecclesia sit excommunicatus, et damnatus.
VIII. Quod apud hominem, qui non agnoscit unum Deum, sed plures, nihil Ecclesiae cohaereat. Sed haec singulatim evolventur.
Footnotes: