The Existence and Attributes of God, Volumes 1 and 2Charnock, Stephen
Religion
The Existence and Attributes of God, Volumes 1 and 2
Charnock, Stephen
God (Christianity) -- Attributes; Providence and government of God -- Christianity
But that which gave the finish to Charnock’s intellectual character,
was not the predominance of any one quality so much as the harmonious
and nicely balanced union of all. Acute perception, sound judgment,
masculine sense, brilliant imagination, habits of reflection, and
a complete mastery over the succession of his thoughts, were all
combined in that comely order and that due proportion which go to
constitute a well‑regulated mind. There was, in his case, none of that
disproportionate development of any one particular faculty, which, in
some cases, serves, like an overpowering glare, to dim, if not almost
to quench the splendor of the rest. The various faculties of his soul,
to make use of a figure, rather shone forth like so many glittering
stars, from the calm and clear firmament of his mind, each supplying
its allotted tribute of light, and contributing to the serene and
solemn lustre of the whole. As has been said of another, so may it be
said of him――“If it be rare to meet with an individual whose mental
faculties are thus admirably balanced, in whom no tyrant faculty
usurps dominion over the rest, or erects a despotism on the ruins of
the intellectual republic; still more rare is it to meet with such a
mind in union with the far higher qualities of religious and moral
excellence.”
Nor were Charnock’s moral qualities less estimable than his
intellectual. He was a pre‑eminently holy man, distinguished at
once by personal purity, social equity, and habitual devotion. Early
the subject of saving grace, he was in his own person an excellent
example of the harmony of faith, with the philosophy of the moral
feelings. Strongly he felt that while “not without law to God,” he
was nevertheless “under law to Christ.” The motives from which he
acted in every department of moral duty were evangelical motives;
and so entirely was he imbued with the spirit, so completely
under the power of the gospel, that whatever he did, no matter how
humble in the scale of moral duty, he “served the Lord Christ.” The
regulating principle of his whole life is embodied in the apostolical
injunction:――“Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and
not {a13} unto men.” The various talents with which he was gifted
by the God of nature, were all presided over by an enlightened and
deep‑toned piety, for which he was indebted to the sovereign grace
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was this that struck the key‑note
of the intellectual and moral harmony to which we have adverted as a
prominent feature in his character. This at once directed each faculty
to its proper object, and regulated the measure of its exercise.
Devotion was the very element in which he lived and breathed, and had
his being. Devout communion with Supreme Excellence, the contemplation
of celestial themes, and preparation for a higher state of being,
constituted the truest pleasures of his existence, elevated him far
above the control of merely sentient and animal nature, and secured
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