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
_Use IV._ Is it a folly to deny or doubt of the being of God? It is a
folly also not to worship God, when we acknowledge his existence; it
is our wisdom then to worship him. As it is not indifferent whether
we believe there is a God or no; so it is not indifferent whether we
will give honor to that God or no. A worship is his right as he is the
Author of our being, and fountain of our happiness. By this only we
acknowledge his Deity; though we may profess his being, yet we deny
that profession in neglects of worship. To deny him a worship is as
great a folly, as to deny his being. He that renounceth all homage to
his Creator, envies him the being which he cannot deprive him of. The
natural inclination to worship is as universal as the notion of a God;
idolatry else had never gained footing in the world. The existence of
God was never owned in any nation, but a worship of him was appointed.
And many people who have turned their backs upon some other parts
of the law of nature, have paid a continual homage to some superior
and invisible being. The Jews give a reason why man was created in
the evening of the Sabbath, because he should begin his being with
the worship of his Maker. As soon as ever he found himself to be
a creature, his first solemn act should be a particular respect to
his Creator. “To fear God and keep his commandment,” is the whole of
man,[136] or is whole man;[137] he is not a man but a beast, without
observance of God. Religion is as requisite as reason to complete
a man: he were not reasonable if he were not religious; because by
neglecting religion, he neglects the chiefest dictate of reason.
Either God framed the world with so much order, elegancy, and variety
to no purpose, or this was his end at least, that reasonable creatures
should admire him in it, and honor him for it. The notion of God
was not stamped upon men, the shadows of God did not appear in the
creatures, to be the subject of an idle contemplation, but the motive
of a due homage to God. He created the world for his glory, a people
for himself, that he might have the honor of his works; that since we
live and move in him, and by him, we should live and move to him and
for him. It was the condemnation of the heathen world, that when they
knew there was a God, they did not give him the glory due to him.[138]
He that denies his being, is an atheist to his essence: he that denies
his worship, is an atheist to his honor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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