gence. The perfect
arrangement of parts that work together must have been planned by a
living Being of infinite wisdom, knowledge, and power. This Being, whose
creatures they are, must exist. Behind the pervading order there must be
personality, purpose, and action. The fool may say in his heart, "There
is no God," but, as nature bears testimony to the existence of an
omniscient and omnipotent Creator, reason calls for another conclusion.

(_c_) (_Scripture_) There is a limit to the knowledge of God which
the consciousness of man and the order and design in the universe
impart. These serve to establish the truth that God is, but they do not
convey the intimation that He is a moral Governor and the rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. They declare little of His character, and
are silent as to many of the duties which He requires. To make God
known, the teaching of conscience and of reason must be supplemented by
revelation. It is in the Bible that the believer finds the strongest
proofs of the existence of the Divine Being, and from the Bible he
obtains also the most comprehensive and satisfying view of the Deity
and of man's relation to Him. He there finds that what he has to believe
concerning God is, that He is Jehovah--the Being infinitely and
eternally perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient; the only living
and true God, there being none beside Him. The heathen believed in and
worshipped many gods. The untutored savage peopled the groves with
them, and the pagan philosopher built innumerable temples in their
honour. The Pantheons of Greece and Rome were crowded with the statues
of favourite deities. The doctrine of one living and true God was
prominent in the revelation given to Israel. God's message by Moses had
its foundation--truth in the proclamation: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord."[018] His glory and His work are shared by no other
being. He is the absolute Sovereign and Lord of all creatures. In the
Bible, too, man learns that God is his own personal God who cares for
him, and to whom he owes love, allegiance, and obedience. All who refuse
to believe in the existence of God reject the testimony of Scripture
regarding Him, but to such as acknowledge its claim to be the Word of
God, the evidence it supplies is convincing and all-sufficient.

Examination of ancient heathen religions and of the views they set forth
regarding God shows clearly the distance at which they stand from the
re