The Heathen Inexcusable for Their Idolatry [pp. 427-448]

432 The Heathen inexcusable for their Idolatry. [JULY
forward testimony of his works must be in favour of his
existence. Even without argument we are bound to assume
this as a fact. God cannot deny himself, and his works must
therefore express his unity as well as his existence. The
reason then of man's choosing Polytheism instead of Monotheism lies not in want of evidence, for if he worship gods at
all, the evidence is more in favour of one than many. We
must look for some other reason for his choosing Polytheism
than in lack of evidence. This we believe can be found in
man's moral state. The root of unbelief in any truth, we find
more often in not wishing to believe it, than in any want of
proof. So in reference to the knowledge of God. Along with
this knowledge comes the knowledge, or the consciousness of
distance from him and opposition to him. If we reason about
God, as we necessarily must from our own nature, and thus
ascribe to him intellectual faculties, we must also a moral character. For though we do wrong, yet the impulse to do right
and the approval of it, show that he who gave us our moral
nature is on the side of right and truth and justice. Conscience then brings to light a moral Being, one who hates sin,
and at the same time it convinces us of sin. It reveals a moral
God, and us guilty of immorality-a God in opposition to us
and us to him. From this opposition there are two methods
of escape-one by reconciliation-but without a revelation
men are ignorant of that; or, second, by forgetting him,
by hiding from him. Adam in this respect was the type
of all our race. The consciousness of sin brought him in
opposition to God, and he sought to hide from him among
the trees of the garden. This has ever been man's device.
As the apostle says, he has not liked to retain God in his
knowledge. Ile has rejected the proof he has had of his
existence, and substituted in the place of the incorruptible
God, images made like unto corruptible man, and fourfooted beasts. Not able to suppress the idea of a superior
Being, upon whom we are dependent, and who demands our
homage and worship, he has sought to fill his place by
images, mere semblances of deity, but without his power,
and without his holiness. Polytheism, by multiplying the
personality of its deities, divides the attributes, and needs