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
and though a man be in Christ by the habit of faith, he performs a
duty out of Christ without an act of faith: without the habit of faith,
our persons are out of Christ; and without the exercise of faith,
the duties are out of Christ. As the want of faith in a person is
the death of the soul, so the want of faith in a service is the death
of the offering. Though a man were at the cost of an ox, yet to kill
it without bringing it to the “door of the tabernacle,” was not a
sacrifice, but a murder (Lev. xvii. 3, 4). The tabernacle was a type
of Christ, and a look to him is necessary in every spiritual sacrifice.
As there must be faith to make any act an act of obedience, so there
must be faith to make any act of worship spiritual. That service is
not spiritual that is not vital; and it cannot be vital without the
exercise of a vital principle; all spiritual life is “hid in Christ,”
and drawn from him by faith (Gal. ii. 20). Faith, as it hath relation
to Christ, makes every act of worship a living act, and, consequently,
a spiritual act. Habitual unbelief cuts us off from the body of Christ
(Rom. xi. 20): “Because of unbelief they were broken off;” and a want
of actuated belief breaks us off from a present communion with Christ
in spirit. As unbelief in us hinders Christ from doing any mighty work,
so unbelief in us hinders us from doing any mighty spiritual duty; so
that the exercise of faith, and a confidence in God, is necessary to
every duty.
2. Love must be acted to render a worship spiritual. Though God
commanded love in the Old Testament, yet the manner of giving the law
bespoke more of fear than love. The dispensation of the law was with
fire, thunder, &c., proper to raise horror, and benumb the spirit;
which effect it had upon the Israelites, when they desired that God
would speak no more to them. Grace is the genius of the gospel, proper
to excite the affection of love. The law was given by the “disposition
of angels,” with signs to amaze; the gospel was ushered in with the
“songs of angels,” composed of peace and good‑will, calculated to
ravish the soul. Instead of the terrible voice of the law, “Do this
and live,” the comfortable voice of the gospel is, “Grace, grace!”
Upon this account the principle of the Old Testament was fear, and the
worship often expressed by the fear of God. The principle of the New
Testament is love. The Mount Sinai gendereth to bondage (Gal. iv. 44);
Mount Sion, from whence the gospel or evangelical law goes forth,
gendereth to liberty; and therefore the “spirit of bondage unto fear,”
as the property of the law, is opposed to the state of adoption, the
principle of love, as the property of the gospel (Rom. viii. 15);
and therefore the worship of God under the gospel, or New Testament,
is oftener expressed by love than fear, as proceeding from higher
principles, and acting nobler passions. In this state we are to serve
him without fear (Luke i. 74); without a bondage fear; not without
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