05.17. Directions To Aid Us In Forming Right Notions Of God As A Spirit,
Directions To Aid Us In Forming Right Notions Of God As A Spirit, Infinitely Pure And Perfect
1. That God has no body nor bodily parts. Object. How then are eyes, ears, hands, face and the like, attributed in scripture to God? Ans. They are attributed to him not properly, but figuratively; they are spoken of him after the manner of men, in condescension to our weakness; but we are to understand them after a sort becoming the Divine Majesty. We are to consider what such bodily parts serve us for, as our eyes for discerning and knowing, our arms for strength, our hands for action, &c. and we are to conceive these things to be in God infinitely, which these parts serve for in us. Thus, when eyes and ears are ascribed to God they signify his omniscience; his hands denote his power, and his face the manifestation of his love and favour.
2. That God is invisible, and cannot be seen with the eyes of the body, no not in heaven; for the glorified body is still a body, and God a Spirit, which is not object of the eyes, more than sound, taste, smell, &c. 1 Timothy 1:17. ’Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.’
3. That God is the most suitable good to the nature of our souls, which are spirits; and can communicate himself, and apply those things to them, which only can render them happy, as he is the God and Father of our spirits.
4. That it is sinful and dishonourable to God, either to make images or pictures of him without us, or to have any image of him in our minds, which our unruly imagination is apt to frame to itself, especially in prayer. For God is the object of our understanding, not of our imagination. God expressly prohibited Israel to frame any similitude or resemblance of him, and tells them, that they had not the least pretence for so doing, inasmuch as they ’saw reb,’ Deuteronomy 4:12, Deuteronomy 15:1-16. And, says the prophet, ’To whom will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?’ Isaiah 40:18. We cannot form an imaginary idea of our own souls or spirits, which are absolutely invisible to us, and far less of him who is the invisible God, whom no man hath seen or can see. Therefore to frame a picture or an idea of what is invisible, is highly absurd and impracticable; nay, it is gross idolatry, prohibited in the second commandment.
5. That externals in worship are of little value with God, who is a spirit, and requires the heart. They who would be accepted of God must worship him in spirit and in truth, that is, from an apprehension and saving knowledge of what he is in Christ to poor sinners. And this saving knowledge of God in Christ is attainable in this life: for it is the matter of the divine promise, ’I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord,’ Jeremiah 24:7. ’It is written in the prophets, They shall be all taught of God, John 6:45. And therefore it should be most earnestly and assiduously sought after by us, as unless we attain to it, we must perish for ever. That we may know what sort of a spirit God is, we must consider his attributes, which we gather from his word and works, and that two ways: 1. By denying of, and removing from God, in our minds, all imperfection which is in the creatures, Acts 17:29. ’Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.’ And thus we come to the knowledge of his incommunicable attributes, so called because there is no shadow or vestige of them in the creatures, such as infinity, eternity, unchangeableness. 2. By attributing unto him, by way of eminency, whatever is excellent in the creatures, seeing he is the fountain of all perfection in them, Psalms 94:9. ’He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?’ And thus we have his communicable attributes, whereof there are some vestiges and small scantlings in the creature, as being, wisdom, power, &c. amongst which his spirituality is to be reckoned.
Now, both these sorts of attributes in God are not qualities in him distinct from himself, but they are God himself. God’s infinity is God himself; his wisdom is himself; he is wisdom, goodness, 1 John 1:5. ’This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ Neither are these attributes so many different things in God; but they are cach of them God himself: for God swears by himself, Hebrews 6:13. ’For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself;’ yet he swears by his holiness, Amos 4:2. ’The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks.’ He creates by himself, Isaiah 44:24. ’Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; yet he creates by his power, Romans 1:20. Therefore God’s attributes are God himself. Neither are these attributes separable from one another; for though we, through weakness, must think and speak of them separately, yet they are all truly but the one infinite perfection of the divine nature, which cannot be separated therefrom, without denying that he is an infinitely perfect Being.