[□=□]
[lemma=□]
Only then do we know that god is one , and there can be no other gods than this . It must be recognized that hosts of ancient gods were historic gods , and their cults historic religions ; it is implicit in the idea of the national god , of which Israel 's world provides numerous examples . The most ordinary immediate cause of our belief , concerning any point of Christian faith , is that we believe the Bible to be the word of God . And this law of God , that commandeth obedience to the law civil , commandeth by consequence obedience to all the precepts of the Bible ; which , as I have proved in the precedent chapter , is there only law where the civil sovereign hath made it so ; and in other places but counsel , which a man at his own peril may without injustice refuse to obey . As people of faith , we pray that Catholics and Protestants on the island of Ireland will find that their shared Christian values offer them a firm foundation for the new future which , with God 's help , they have now begun to build . Naaman was converted in his heart to the God of Israel , for he saith , " Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods , but unto the Lord . They ate the fruit , and the deity , in fright because man has now " become as one of us " ( plural ) - - i.e ., having equal power with gods - - comes hurrying down from his throne in heaven , and curses not only Adam , Eve , and the serpent , but even the ground . They believed the Apostles , and after them the pastors and doctors of the Church that recommended to their faith the history of the Old and New Testament : so that the faith of Christians ever since our Saviour 's time hath had for foundation , first , the reputation of their pastors , and afterward , the authority of those that made the Old and New Testament to be received for the rule of faith ; which none could do but Christian sovereigns , who are therefore the supreme pastors , and the only persons whom Christians now hear speak from God ; except such as God speaketh to in these days supernaturally . Yet it will be apparent that , however attractive such views may have proved for the philosophic temper of the wise men , the great mass of Israel ’ s thought , if we may judge by the prominence given it in the literature , was based on the conviction that the source of ethics was in the nature and will of God .