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
revelation of Scripture. The gods of the heathen were of like passions
with their worshippers--selfish, cruel, vindictive, and without regard
for equity or justice in their treatment of men. The God of the Bible,
on the other hand, is a righteous God, merciful to His creatures, and
desirous of their temporal and eternal wellbeing, and when He inflicts
suffering it is not as a passionate Judge, but as a Father who chastens
His children for their profit.