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
_Inference 5._ If God be a Spirit, he can only be the true
satisfaction of our spirits: spirit can only be filled with spirit:
content flows from likeness and suitableness. As we have a resemblance
to God in regard of the spiritual nature of our soul, so we can have
no satisfaction but in him. Spirit can no more be really satisfied
with that which is corporeal, than a beast can delight in the company
of an angel. Corporeal things can no more fill a hungry spirit, than
pure spirit can feed an hungry body. God, the highest Spirit, can only
reach out a full content to our spirits. Man is lord of the creation:
nothing below him can be fit for his converse; nothing above him
offers itself to his converse but God. We have no correspondence with
angels. The influence they have upon us, the protection they {a203}
afford us, is secret and undiscerned; but God, the highest Spirit,
offers himself to us in his Son, in his ordinances, is visible in
every creature, presents himself to us in every providence; to him
we must seek; in him we must rest. God had no rest from the creation
till he had made man; and man can have no rest in the creation till
he rests in God. God only is our dwelling place;[412] our souls should
only long for him:[413] our souls should only wait upon him. The
spirit of man never riseth to its original glory, till it be carried
up on the wings of faith and love to its original copy. The face
of the soul looks most beautiful, when it is turned to the face of
God, the Father of spirits; when the derived spirit is fixed upon
the original Spirit, drawing from it life and glory. Spirit is only
the receptacle of spirit. God, as Spirit, is our principle; we must
therefore live upon him. God, as Spirit, hath some resemblance to us
as his image; we must, therefore, only satisfy ourselves in him.
_Inference 6._ If God be a Spirit, we should take most care of that
wherein we are like to God. Spirit is nobler than body; we must,
therefore, value our spirits above our bodies. The soul, as spirit,
partakes more of the divine nature, and deserves more of our choicest
cares. If we have any love to this Spirit, we should have a real
affection to our own spirits, as bearing a stamp of the spiritual
Divinity, the chiefest of all the works of God; as it is said of
behemoth (Job xl. 19). That which is most the image of this immense
spirit, should be our darling; so David calls his soul (Psalm xxxv.
17). Shall we take care of that wherein we partake not of God, and not
delight in the jewel which hath his own signature upon it? God was not
only the Framer of spirits, and the End of spirits; but the Copy and
Exemplar of spirits. God partakes of no corporeity; he is pure Spirit.
But how do we act, as if we were only matter and body! We have but
little kindness for this great Spirit as well as our own, if we take
no care of his immediate offspring, since he is not only Spirit, but
the Father of spirits.[414]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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