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
_Prop. VII._ Yet the worship of God with our bodies is not to be
rejected upon the account that God requires a spiritual worship.
Though we must perform the weightier duties of the law, yet we are
{a220} not to omit and leave undone the lighter precepts, since both
the _magnalia_ and _minutula legis_, the greater and the lesser duties
of the law, have the stamp of divine authority upon them. As God under
the ceremonial law did not command the worship of the body and the
observation of outward rites without the engagement of the spirit,
so neither doth he command that of the spirit without the peculiar
attendance of the body. The Schwelksendians denied bodily worship;
and the indecent postures of many in public attendance intimate no
great care either of composing their bodies or spirits. A morally
discomposed body intimates a tainted heart. Our bodies as well as our
spirits are to be presented to God.[469] Our bodies in lieu of the
sacrifices of beasts, as in the Judaical institutions; body for the
whole man; a living sacrifice, not to be slain, as the beasts were,
but living a new life, in a holy posture, with crucified affections.
This is the inference the apostle makes of the privileges of
justification, adoption, co‑heirship with Christ, which he had before
discoursed of; privileges conferred upon the person, and not upon a
part of man.
1. Bodily worship is due to God. He hath a right to an adoration by
our bodies, as they are his by creation; his right is not diminished,
but increased, by the blessing of redemption: (1 Cor. vi. 20) “For
you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and
your spirits, which are God’s.” The body, as well as the spirit, is
redeemed, since our Saviour suffered crucifixion in his body, as well
as agonies in his soul. Body is not taken here for the whole man, as
it may be in Rom xii.; but for the material part of our nature, it
being distinguished from the spirit. If we are to render to God an
obedience with our bodies, we are to render him such acts of worship
with our bodies as they are capable of. As God is the Father of
spirits, so he is the God of all flesh; therefore the flesh he hath
framed of the earth, as well as the noble portion he hath breathed
into us, cannot be denied him without a palpable injustice. The
service of the body we must not deny to God, unless we will deny him
to be the author of it, and the exercise of his providential care
about it. The mercies of God are renewed every day upon our bodies
as well as our souls, and, therefore, they ought to express a fealty
to God for his bounty every day. “Both are from God; both should be
for God. Man consists of body and soul; the service of man is the
service of both. The body is to be sanctified as well as the soul;
and, therefore, to be offered to God as well as the soul. Both are
to be glorified, both are to glorify. As our Saviour’s divinity was
manifested in his body, so should our spirituality in ours. To give
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