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
4. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be infinite. All bodies are
of a finite nature; everybody is material, and every material thing
is terminated. The sun, a vast body, hath a bounded greatness; the
heavens, of a mighty bulk, yet have their limits. If God had a body he
must consist of parts, those parts would be bounded and limited, and
whatsoever is limited is of a finite virtue, and therefore below an
infinite nature. Reason therefore tells us, that the most excellent
nature, as God is, cannot be of a corporeal condition; because of the
limitation and other actions which belong to every {a186} body. God
is infinite, “for the heaven of heavens cannot contain him” (2 Chron.
ii. 6). The largest heavens, and those imaginary spaces beyond the
world, are no bounds to him. He hath an essence beyond the bounds of
the world, and cannot be included in the vastness of the heavens. If
God be infinite, then he can have no parts in him; if he had, they
must be finite or infinite: finite parts can never make up an infinite
being. A vessel of gold, of a pound weight, cannot be made of the
quantity of an ounce. Infinite parts they cannot be, because then
every part would be equal to the whole, as infinite as the whole,
which is contradictory. We see in all things every part is less than
the whole bulk that is composed of it; as every member of a man is
less than the whole body of man. If all the parts were finite, then
God in his essence were finite; and a finite God is not more excellent
than a creature: so that if God were not a Spirit, he could not be
infinite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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