Existence and Attributes of God, Title page – Table of contents
SEVERAL DISCOURSES UPON THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
By that late Eminent Miniſter of Chriſt, Mr. STEPHEN CHARNOCKE, B. D. And ſometimes Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxon.
LONDON, Printed for D. Newman, T. Cockerill, Benj. Griffin, T. Simmons, and Benj. Alſop. M DC LXXXII.
TO THE READER.
THIS long ſince promiſed, and greatly expected Volume of the Reverend Authour upon the Divine Attributes, being Tranſcribed out of his own Manuſcripts, by the unwearied diligence of thoſe worthy Perſons that undertook it,Mr. J. Wichens. Mr. Aſhton. is now at laſt come to thy hands: Doubt not but thy Reading will pay for thy waiting, and thy ſatisfaction make full compenſation for thy patience. In the Epiſtle before his Treatiſe of Providence, it was intimated that his following Diſcourſes would not be inferiour to that, and we are perſwaded that ere thou haſt peruſed one half of this, thou wilt acknowledge that it was modeſtly ſpoken. Enough, aſſure thy ſelf, thou wilt find here for thy entertainment and delight, as well as profit: The ſublimeneſs, variety, and rareneſs of the Truths here handled, together with the elegancy of the Compoſure, neatneſs of the Style, and whatever is wont to make any Book deſirable, will all concur in the recommendation of this. What ſo high and noble a Subject, what ſo fit for his Meditations or thine, as the higheſt and nobleſt Being, and thoſe tranſcendently glorious Perfections wherewith he is clothed? A meer Contemplation of the Divine Excellencies may afford much pleaſure to any man that loves to exerciſe his Reaſon, and is addicted to ſpeculation: But what incomparable ſweetneſs then will holy Souls find, in viewing and conſidering thoſe Perfections now, which they are more fully to behold hereafter; and ſeeing what manner of God, how wiſe and powerful, how great, and good, and holy is he, in whom the Covenant intereſts them, and in the enjoyment of whom their happineſs conſiſts? If rich men delight to ſum up their vaſt Revenues, to read over their Rentals, look upon their Hoords; if they bleſs themſelves in their great Wealth, or, to uſe the Prophets words, Jer. 9.23. glory in their Riches, well may Believers rejoyce and glory in their knowing the Lord, verſ. 24. and pleaſe themſelves in ſeeing how rich they are in having an immenſely full, and All-ſufficient God for their Inheritance. Alas, how little do moſt men know of that Deity they profeſs to ſerve, and own, not as their Soveraign only, but their Portion? To ſuch this Author might ſay,Acts 17.23. as Paul to the Athenians, Whom you ignorantly worſhip, him declare I unto you. Theſe Treatiſes, Reader, will inform thee who he is whom thou calleſt thine, preſent thee with a view of thy chief good, and make thee value thy ſelf a thouſand times more upon thy intereſt in God, than upon all external Accompliſhments, and worldly Poſſeſſions. Who but delights to hear well of one whom he loves? God is thy Love if thou be a Believer, and then it cannot but fill thee with delight and raviſhment to hear ſo much ſpoken in his Praiſe. David deſired to dwell in the Houſe of the Lord, that he might there behold his beauty; How much of that beauty (if thou art but capable of ſeeing it) mayeſt thou behold in this Volume, which was our Author's main buſineſs, for about three years before he died, to diſplay before his hearers? True indeed, the Lord's Glory, as ſhining forth before his heavenly Courtiers above, is unapproachable by mortal Men; but what of it is viſible in his Works, Creation, Providence, Redemption, falls under the cognizance of his Inferiour Subjects here; and this is in a great meaſure preſented to view in theſe Diſcourſes, and ſo much we may well ſay, as may (by the help of Grace) be effectual to raiſe thy Admiration, attract thy Love, provoke thy Deſires, and enable thee to make ſome gueſs at what is yet unſeen; and why not likewiſe to clear thy Eyes, and prepare them for future ſight, as well as turn them away from the contemptible Vanities of this preſent Life? Whatever is glorious in this World, yet (as the Apoſtle in another caſe) hath no glory by reaſon of the glory that excels: 2 Cor. 3.10.This excellent Glory is the Subject of this Book, to which all Created Beauty is but meer ſhadow and duskyneſs. If thy Eyes be well fixed on this, they will not be eaſily drawn to wander after other Objects: If thy heart be taken with God, it will be mortified to every thing that is not God.
But thou haſt in this Book, not only an excellent Subject in the general, but great variety of Matter, for the employment of thy Underſtanding, as well as enlivening thy Affections, and that too ſuch as thou wilt not readily find elſewhere; many excellent things which are out of the rode of ordinary Preachers and Writers, and which may be grateful to the Curious, no leſs than ſatisfactory to the Wiſe and Judicious. It is not therefore a Book to be play'd with, or ſlept over, but read with the moſt intent and ſerious Mind; for though it afford much pleaſure for the Phancy, yet much more work for the heart, and hath indeed enough in it to buſie all the Faculties. The Dreſs is compt and decent, yet not gariſh nor Theatrical; the Rhetorick maſculine and vigorous, ſuch as became a Pulpit, and was never borrowed from the Stage; the Expreſſions full, clear, apt, and ſuch as are beſt ſuted to the weightineſs and ſpirituality of the Truths here delivered. 'Tis plain, he was no empty Preacher, but was more for ſenſe than ſound, filled up his words with matter, and choſe rather to inform his Hearers Minds, than to claw any itching Ears. Yet we will not ſay but ſome little things, a Word, or a Phraſe now and then he may have, which no doubt, had he lived to Tranſcribe his own Sermons, he would have altered. If in ſome leſſer matters he differ from thee, it is but in ſuch as Godly and Learned Men do frequently, and may without breach of Charity differ in among themſelves; in ſome things he may differ from us too, and it may be we from each other; and where are there any two Perſons, who have in all, eſpecially the more diſputable Points of Religion, exactly the ſame Sentiments, at leaſt expreſs themſelves altogether in the ſame terms? But this we muſt ſay, that though he treat of many of the moſt abſtruſe and myſterious Doctrines of Chriſtianity, which are the Subjects of great Debates and Controverſies in the World, yet we find no one material thing in which he may juſtly be called Heterodox (unleſs old Hereſies be of late grown Orthodox, and his differing from them muſt make him faulty) but generally delivers (as in his*Treatiſe of Providence and of Thoughts. former Pieces) what is moſt conſonant to the Faith of This, and other the beſt Reformed Churches. He was not indeed for that Modern Divinity which is ſo much in vogue with ſome, who would be counted the only ſound Divines; having taſted the old, he did not deſire the new, but ſaid, the old is better. Some Errours, eſpecially the Socinian, he ſets himſelf induſtriouſly againſt, and cuts the very Sinews of them, yet, ſometimes, almoſt without naming them.
In the Doctrinal Part of ſeveral of his Diſcourſes thou wilt find the depth of Polemical Divinity, and in his Inferences from thence the ſweetneſs of Practical; ſome things which may exerciſe the profoundeſt Scholar, and others which may inſtruct and edifie the weakeſt Chriſtian; nothing is more nervous than his Reaſonings, and nothing more affecting than his Applications. Though he make great uſe of Schoolmen, yet they are certainly more beholden to him, than he to them; he adopts their Notions, but he refines them too, and improves them, and reforms them from the barbarouſneſs in which they were expreſſed, and dreſſeth them up in his own Language (ſo far as the nature of the matter will permit, and more clear terms are to be found) and ſo makes them intelligible to Vulgar Capacities, which in their original rudeneſs were obſcure and ſtrange, even to Learned Heads.
In a word, he handles the great Truths of the Goſpel, with that Perſpicuity, Gravity, and Majeſty which beſt becomes the Oracles of God; and we have reaſon to believe, that no judicious and unbiaſſed Reader, but will acknowledge this to be incomparably the beſt practical Treatiſe the World ever ſaw in Engliſh upon this Subject What Dr. Jackson did (to whom our Authour gave all due reſpect) was more brief, and in another way. Dr. Preſton did worthily upon the Attributes in his day, but his Diſcourſes likewiſe are more ſuccinct, when this Authours are more full and large. But whatever were the mind of God in it, it was not his Will, that either of theſe two ſhould live to finiſh what he had begun, both being taken away when Preaching upon this Subject. Happy Souls! whoſe laſt breath was ſpent in ſo noble a Work,*Pſal. 146.2 praiſing God while they had any being.
His Method is much the ſame in moſt of theſe Diſcourſes, both in the Doctrinal and Practical Part, which will make the whole more plain, and facile to ordinary Readers. He rarely makes Objections, and yet frequently anſwers them, by implying them in thoſe Propoſitions he lays down for the clearing up the Truths he aſſerts. His Dexterity is admirable in the Applicatory Work, where he not only brings down the higheſt Doctrines to the loweſt Capacities, but collects great varietie of proper, pertinent, uſeful, and yet (many times) unthought of Inferences; and that from thoſe Truths, which however they afford much matter for Inquiſition and Speculation, yet might ſeem (unleſs to the moſt intelligent and judicious Chriſtians) to have a more remote influence upon Practice. He is not like ſome School Writers, who attenuate and rarefie the Matter they Diſcourſe of to a degree bordering upon Annihilation; at leaſt beat it ſo thin, that a puff of breath may blow it away; ſpin their Thred ſo fine, that the Cloth, when made up, proves uſeleſs; Solidity dwindles into Niceties, and what we thought we had got by their Aſſertions, we loſe by their Diſtinctions. But if our Author have ſome Subtilties and ſuperfine Notions in his Argumentations, yet he condenſeth them again, and conſolidates them into ſubſtantial and profitable Corolaries in his Applications: And in them his main buſineſs is, as to diſcipline a prophane World for its neglect of God, and contempt of him in his moſt adorable and ſhining Perfections; ſo likewiſe to ſhew how the Divine Attributes are not only infinitely excellent in themſelves, but a grand Foundation for all true Divine Worſhip, and ſhould be the great Motives to provoke men to the exerciſe of Faith, and Love, and Fear, and Humility, and all that holy Obedience they are called to by the Goſpel: And this without peradventure is the great end of all thoſe rich Diſcoveries God hath in his Word made of himſelf to us. And, Reader, if theſe elaborate Diſcourſes of this holy Man, through the Lord's bleſſing, become a means of promoting Holineſs in thee,Pſal. 109.1. and ſtir thee up to love and live to the God of his praiſe, we are well aſſured that his end in Preaching them is anſwered, and ſo is ours in publiſhing them.
Thine in the Lord,
EDW. VEEL.
RI. ADAMS.
The ſeveral Diſcourſes in this Volume. VIZ.
Page 1. & 47. THE Exiſtence of God, and Practical Atheiſm; from Pſal. 14.1. The Fool hath ſaid in his heart there is no God, &c.
Page 109. & 129. God a Spirit, and Spiritual Worſhip; from John 4.24. God is a Spirit, and they that worſhip him, muſt worſhip him in ſpirit and truth.
Page 179. The Eternity of God; from Pſal. 90.2. Before the Mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadſt formed the Earth and the World: Even from everlaſting to everlaſting thou art God.
Page 203. The Immutability of God; From Pſal. 102, 26, 27. They ſhall periſh, but thou ſhalt endure: Yea, all of them ſhall wax old, like a Garment; as a Veſture ſhalt thou change them, and they ſhall be changed. But thou art the ſame, and thy years ſhall have no end.
Page 241. The Omnipreſence of God; from Jer. 23.24. Can any hide himſelf in ſecret places, that I ſhall not ſee him? ſaith the Lord. Do not I fill Heaven and Earth, ſaith the Lord?
Page 272. God's Infinite Knowledge; from Pſal. 147.5. Great is our Lord, and of great Power: His Ʋnderſtanding is infinite.
Page 341. God's Infinite Wiſdom; from Rom. 16.27. To God only wiſe, be glory through Jeſus Chriſt for ever. Amen.
Page 417. God's Infinite Power; from Job 26.14. Lo, theſe are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him; But the Thunder of his Power who can underſtand?
Page 493. God's Infinite Holineſs; From Exod. 15.11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the Gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holineſs, fearful in praiſes, doing wonders?
Page 577. God's Infinite Goodneſs; from Mark 10.18. And Jeſus ſaid unto him, Why calleſt thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God.
Page 697. The Dominion of God; from Pſal. 103.19. The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens, and his Kingdom ruleth over all.
Page 787. God's Infinite Patience; from Nahum 1.3. The Lord is ſlow to Anger, and great in Power, and will not all acquit the Wicked: The Lord hath his way in the Whirlwind, and in the Storm, and the Clouds are the Duſt of his feet.