///.   THE  DOCTRINE  OF  GOD— THE  DIVINE
NATURE.
1.   The  Knowledge  of  God.
The  existence  of  God  is  not  a  doctrine  of  Scripture  in
the  sense  that  Scripture  directly  teaches  it.  It  is  assumed
there  as  a  fact,  and  as  an  element  in  the  thought  of  all
men ;  as  connate  with  man.  If  there  be  men  who  deny
it,  or  do  not  know  it,  it  is  because  by  a  long  course  of
wilful  wickedness  they  have  banished  the  knowledge  of  it
from  their  minds,  and  their  state  is  not  so  much  miserable
as  criminal.  Even  in  their  case,  extreme  as  it  is,  the
knowledge  that  God  is  is  not  finally  darkened,  but  only


74    THE  THEOLOGY  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT

temporarily  eclipsed ;  it  is  rather  forgetfulness  than  final
loss — they  shall  remember  and  turn  unto  the  Lord.
It  may  seem  hardly  to  be  another  thing,  but  rather
something  involved  in  the  above,  when  we  say  that  Scrip-
ture does  not  teach,  but  assumes,  that  God  may  be  known.
We  do  not  mean  known  to  be,  but  known,  seeing  that  He  is.
Scripture  does  not  teach  that  God  may  be  known,  but  it
teaches  these  things — in  what  ways  He  is  known,  and  that
He  is  known  so  far  as  He  gives  Himself  to  be  known.
