IV.
In
English
and
American
Theology:
In
Great
Britain
and
America
the
idea
of
God
has
undergone
many
vicissitudes.
In
the
period
of
I.
The
Deism
(q.v.),
1650-1800,
the
doctrine
Deistic
of
God
was
profoundly
affected
by
Period
in
certain
modem
questions
which
were
England,
already
emerging:
the
scientific
view
of
nature
as
a
unity,
the
denial
of
the
principle
of
external
authority,
the
right
and
suf-
ficiency
of
reason,
and
the
ethical
as
compared
with
the
religious
value
of
life.
The
deists
yielded
to
none
of
their
contemporaries
in
affirming
that
God
was
personal,
the
cause
of
the
fixed
providential
order
of
the
world,
and
of
the
moral
order
with
its
rewards
and
punishments
both
here
and
hereafter.
The
cosmological
was
the
only
theistic
argument.
God's
wisdom
and
power
were
expressed
neither
in
supernatural
revelation
nor
in
miracle.
His
nature
was
perfectly
apprehensible
to
man's
reason.
He
was,
however,
absolutely
transcendent,
i.e.,
not
merely
distinct
from
but
removed
from
the
world,
an
absentee
God.
This
process
of
thought
reached
its
negative
skeptical
result
in
David
Hume;
the
being
of
God
could
be
proved
neither
by
rational
considerations
nor
by
the
prevailing
sensationalist
theory
of
knowledge.
Outside
of
the
deists,
the
demonstration
of
the
being
and
attributes
of
God
by
Samuel
Clarke
(q.v.)
was
thoroughly
represent-
ative
of
the
time.
Something
must
have
existed
from
eternity,
of
an
independent,
unchangeable
nature,
self-existent,
absolutely
inconceivable
by
us,
necessarily
everlasting,
infinite,
omnipotent,
one
and
unique,
intelligent
and
free,
infinitely
powerful,
wise,
good,
and
just,
possessing
the
moral
attributes
required
for
governing
the
world.
Bishop
Butler
(Analogy
of
Religion)
held
as
firmly
as
the
deists
the
transcendence
of
God,
and
if
he
made
less
of
the
cosmic,
ethical,
and
mysterious
than
of
the
redemph
tive
side
of
the
divine
nature,
this
is
to
be
referred
not
to
his
xmderestimate
of
the
redemptive
purpose
of
God,
but
to
the
immediate
aim
of
his
apologetic.
Accepting
the
fimdamental
tenet
of
Matthew
Tindal
(q.v.),
i.e.,
the
identity
of
natural
and
revealed
religion,
he
shows
that
the
mysteries
of
revealed
religion
are
not
more
inexplicable
than
the
facts
of
imiversal
human
experience.
Thus
he
seeks
to
open
a
door
for
God's
activity
in
revelation
—
prophecy,
miracles,
and
redemption
A
new
tendency
in
the
idea
of
God
appears
in
William
Paley
(q.v.).
The
proof
of
the
existence
and
attributes
of
the
deity
is
teleological.
Nature
is
a
contrivance
of
which
God
is
the
immediate
creator.
The
celebrated
Bridge-
water
Treatises
(q.v.)
follow
in
the
same
path,
proving
the
wisdom,
power,
and
goodness
of
God
from
geology,
chemistry,
astronomy,
the
animal
world,
the
human
body,
and
the
inner
world
of
consciousness.
Chalmers
sharply
distinguishes
be-
tween
natural
and
revealed
theology,
as
offering
two
sources
for
the
knowledge
of
God.
In
this
entire
great
movement
of
thought,
therefore,
God
is
con-
ceived
as
transcendent.
God
and
the
world
are
pre-
sented
in
a
thoroughly
dualistic
fashion.
God
is
the
immediate
and
instantaneous
creator
of
the
world
as
a
mechanism.
The
principal
divine
attributes
are
wisdom
and
power;
goodness
is
affirmed,
but
appears
to
be
secondary:
its
hour
has
not
yet
come.
In
America
during
the
same
period
Jonathan
Edwards
(q.v.)
is
the
chief
representative
of
the
idea
of
God.
His
doctrine
centers
in
2.
The
that
of
absolute
sovereignty.
God
is
a
Same
personal
being,
glorious,
transcendent.
Period
in
The
world
has
in
him
its
absolute
America,
source,
and
proceeds
from
him
as
an
emanation,
or
by
continuous
creation,
or
by
perpetual
energizing
thought.
As
motive
for
the
creation,
he
added
to
the
common
view
—
the
declarative
glory
of
God
—
that
of
the
happiness
of
the
creature.
On
the
basis
of
causative
predestina-
tion
he
maintains
divine
foreknowledge
of
human
choice
—
a
theory
pushed
to
extreme
limits
by
later
writers,
Samuel
Hopkins
and
Nathanael
Emmons
(qq.v.;
also
see
New
England
Theologt).
His
doctrine
of
the
divine
transcendence
was
qualified
by
a
thorough-going
mysticism,
a
Christian
experi-
ence
characterized
by
a
profound
consciousness
of
the
immediate
presence,
goodness,
and
glory
of
God.
His
conception
of
the
ethical
nature
of
God
con-
tained
an
antinomy
which
he
never
resolved;
the
Being
who
showed
surpassing
grace
to
the
elect
and
bestowed
unnumbered
conmion
favors
on
the
non-
elect
in
this
life,
would,
the
instant
after
death,
withdraw
from
the
latter
every
vestige
of
good
and
henceforth
pour
out
upon
them
the
infinite
and
eternal
fury
of
his
wrath.
Edwards'
doctrine
of
God
and
its
implications
later
underwent,
however,
serious
modifications.
In
the
circle
which
recognized
him
as
leader,
his
son
reports
that
no
less
than
ten
improvements
had
been
made,
some
of
which,
e.g.,
concerning
the
atonement,
directly
affected
the
idea
of
God.
Predestination
was
aflfirmed,
but,
instead
of
proceeding
from
an
inscrutable
will,
following
Leibnitz,
rested
on
divine
foreknowledge
of
all
possible
worlds
and
included
the
purpose
to
realize
this,
the
best
of
all
possible
worlds
(A.
A.
Hodge,
Ouaines
of
Theology,
New
York,
1900;
S.
Harris,
God,
the
Creator
and
Lord
of
All,
ib.,
1896).
The
atonement
was
conceived
as
suflBcient
but
not
efficient
for
all
(C.
Hodge,
Systematic
Theology,
Philadelphia,
1865),
or,
on
the
other
hand,
as
ex-
pressing
the
sincere
purpose
of
God
to
redeem
all
sinners
(A.
E.
Park,
The
Atonement;
Introductory
Essay,
Boston,
1859).
Divine
sovereignty
was
roundly
affirmed;
for
some
it
contained
the
secret
of
a
double
decree,
for
others
it
offered
a
convincing
basis
for
the
larger
hope.
During
the
nineteenth
century
a
new
movement
appeared
in
English
thought.
Sir
William
Hamilton
held
that
God
was
the
absolute,
the
3.
Nine-
unconditioned,
the
cause
of
all
{Phil-
teenth-
osophy
of
the
Unconditioned,
in
Edin-
Century
burgh
Review,
Oct.
1829).
But
since
Develop-
all
thinking
is
to
condition,
and
to
con-
ments.
dition
the
imconditioned
is
self-con-
tradictory,
God
is
both
unknown
and
unknowable.
Following
in
the
same
path
H.
L.
Mansel
{Limits
of
Religious
Thought,
London,
1867)
foimd
here
the
secret
by
which
to
maintain
the
mysteries
of
the
faith
of
the
church
in
the
Trinity,
the
incarnation,
the
atonement,
and
other
beliefs.
Revelation
was
therefore
required
to
supplement
men's
ignorance
and
to
communicate
what
human
intelligence
was
unable
to
discover.
Hence
the
