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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	nature_n	soul_n	unite_v	6,882	5	9.6339	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62579	The remaining discourses, on the attributes of God Viz. his Goodness. His mercy. His patience. His long-suffering. His power. His spirituality. His immensity. His eternity. His incomprehensibleness. God the first cause, and last end. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Being the seventh volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708, publisher.	1700 (1700)	Wing T1216; ESTC R222200	153,719	440

unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out These are the Instances on the part of the Object 2. On the part of the Subject or the persons capable of knowing God in any measure The perfect knowledge of God is above a finite Creature 's understanding Wicked men they are ignorant of God and full of false apprehensions of him the Scripture gives this description of them they are those that know not God 2 Thess 1. Wicked men are so far from knowing God to Perfection that they have hardly any true knowledge of him for as the man himself is so will God seem to be to him the Idea and Notion which men have of God is but the picture of their own complexion To a true knowledge there is required likeness a Man's mind must be like the thing he would understand therefore the Apostle tells us the natural or animal man doth not receive the things of God he is not capable of them because his mind is unsuitable to them he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of body and he cannot relish spiritual things even those Natural notions which wicked men have of God they are strangely tinctur'd and obscured by the temper of the man they are lux sepulta in opacâ materiâ light buried and hid in matter and darkness in the blackness of a soul and impure heart so that there is no question of them whither they comprehend God or not But good men they cannot find out God they have some false apprehensions of him all their apprehensions are dark have much of obscurity in them they know God to Salvation but not to Perfection in this life we do but know God in part that is in comparison of the knowledge which our natures are capable of But I will instance yet higher the Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect tho' they have true apprehensions of God yet they do not arrive to perfect knowledge of him they cannot pervestigare ultima know the utmost of God the Cherubims themselves are continually looking at the Mercy Seat To which the Apostle alludes 1 Pet. 1.12 when he tells us the Mystery of God's mercy in the Gospel was a thing which the Angels desired to pry into In Heaven that which is in part shall be done away that is our knowledge shall be perfect as our Natures are capable but it shall be finite When we shall see God face to face that is have an immediate vision of him and see him as he is that is not having our understandings tinctur'd by any lust or passion that may darken our mind or misrepresent the Object for the Apostle tells us we shall see him because we shall be like him yet then we shall have short and unadequate apprehensions of him we shall still retain our limited Natures and finite understandings II. By way of Conviction Dost thou know perfectly the nature of a finite Spirit the Perfection and the Power of an Angel how being immaterial they can act upon matter and move that which can make no resistance to a Spirit Dost thou know how they can move themselves to a great distance in a moment and dart themselves from one part of the World to another Dost thou know how man is formed in the lowest parts of the earth as the Psalmist expresseth it and the curious Frame of our Bodies is wrought from such rude Principles in so dark a Shop Canst thou give an account how the Soul is united to the Body by what bands or holds a Spirit is so closely and intimately conjoyned to Matter Dost thou know how thy self understandest any thing and canst retain the distinct Ideas and Notions of so many Objects without confusion Dost thou know the least parts of Matter how they are knit together and by what Cement they cleave so fast to one another that they can hardly be separated Now if the Creatures be so unsearchable and the knowledge of these be too hard for thee is not the Creator of them much more Incomprehensible who possesseth all these Perfections which he communicates and many which cannot be communicated to a Creature If in Natural and Sensible Things maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus how much more is it true of God that our ignorance is more than our knowledge when the whole Earth and all the Creatures bear no proportion to him Isa 40.15 17. Behold all the Nations of the earth are as the drop of the bucket and as the small dust of the ballance all nations before him are nothing and are accounted to him less than nothing III. By shewing you the clear Reason of it which is this the disproportion between the Faculty and the Object the finiteness of our understandings and the Infiniteness of the Divine Nature and Perfections God is greater than our hearts and therefore as he knows more than we do as the Apostle reasons 1 John 3.20 so he is more than can be known by us he is too vast an Object for our understanding to entertain for our minds to receive Thou may'st as well mete out the Heaven with a span and measure the Waters in the hollow of thy hand and comprehend the dust of the earth in a little Urn and weigh the Mountains in some Scales and the hills in a little Ballance as think to circumscribe God in the narrow limits of thy thoughts or to bring that which is infinite within the compass of that which is finite And there is not only the vastness and greatness of the Object but the Glory and Resplendency of it does so dazle our sight that we cannot perfectly see it 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see As God is too big so he is too bright an Object for our understandings the presence of his Glory overpowers our minds and bears down our Faculties and conquers our understandings I come now to apply this Doctrine of the Incomprehensibleness of the Divine Nature If the Nature and Perfections and Ways and Works of God be Incomprehensible and past finding out I. It calls for our Admiration and Veneration and Reverence These are the best apprehensions of him that is Incomprehensible a silent Veneration of his Excellencies is the best acknowledgment of them We must admire what we cannot apprehend or express Zach. 9.17 How great is his goodness and how great is his beauty The best way to celebrate the praises of God is that which Nehemiah useth Nehem. 9.5 And blessed be thy glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise When ever we speak or think of God we necessarily detract from his Perfections but even this necessity is glorious to him and this speaks his Perfection that the highest finite understanding must have imperfect thoughts of him We should make up in Reverence and Veneration what we fall short of in knowledge Reverence is an acknowledgment of

Church with it and make it a ground of separation from her 3. If God be a Spirit then we should worship him in spirit and in truth This is the Inference of the Text and therefore I shall speak a little more largely of it only I must explain what is meant by worshiping in spirit and in truth and shew you the force of this Consequence how it follows that because God is a Spirit therefore he must be worship'd in spirit and in truth 1 st For the explication of it This word Spirit is sometimes apply'd to the Doctrine of the Gospel and so it is opposed to Letter by which Name the Doctrine of Moses is called 2 Cor. 3.6 Who hath made us able Ministers of the new Testament not of the letter but of the spirit not of the Law which was written in Tables of Stone but which Christ by his Spirit writes in the Hearts of Believers Sometimes to the worship of the Gospel and so it is opposed to the Flesh Gal. 3.3 Having begun in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh that is by the works of the ceremonial Law which is therefore call'd Flesh because the principal ceremony of it Circumcision was made in the Flesh and because their Sacrifices a chief part of their Worship were of the Flesh of Beasts and because the greatest part of their Ordinances as washing and the like related to the Body Hence it is the Apostle calls the worship of the Jews the law of a carnal commandment Heb. 7.16 and Heb. 9.10 Carnal Ordinances speaking of the Service of the Law which saith he stood in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances Now in opposition to this carnal and ceremonial Worship we are to worship God in the Spirit The Worship of the Jews was most a bodily service but we are to give God a reasonable service to serve him with the spirit of our minds as the Apostle speaks instead of offering the flesh of bulls and goats we are to consecrate our selves to the service of God this is a holy and acceptable sacrifice or reasonable service And in truth Either in opposition to the false Worship of the Samaritans as in spirit is opposed to the Worship of the Jews as our Saviour tells the Woman that they worship'd they knew not what or which I rather think in opposition to the shadows of the Law and so it is opposed John 1.17 The Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Not that the external Service of God is here excluded not that we are to show no outward reverence to him but that as under the Law the Service of God was chiefly external and corporeal so now it should chiefly be inward and spiritual the Worship of God under the Gospel should chiefly be spiritual and substantial not a carnal and bodily and ceremonious Devotion 2 dly For the force of the Consequence it doth not lie in this that just such as God is such must our Worship of him be for this would exclude all bodily and outward worship our Worship of God must therefore be invisible eternal c. for so is he and besides the Will of God seems rather to be the rule of his Worship than his Nature but the force of it is this God is of a spiritual Nature and this is to be supposed to be his Will that our Worship should be as agreable to the Object of it as the nature of the Creature who is to give it will bear now saith Christ to the Woman the Jews and the Samaritans they limit their Worship to a certain place and it consists chiefly in certain carnal Rites and Ordinances but saith he tho' God have permitted this for a time because of the carnality and hardness of their hearts yet the time is coming when a more spiritual and solid and substantial Worship of God is to be introduced which will be free from all particular Places and Rites not tyed to the Temple or to such external Ceremonies but consisting in the devotion of our Spirits even the inward frame and temper of our Hearts all outward Circumstances excepting those of the two Sacraments which are positive being left by the Gospel to as great a liberty as natural necessity and decency will permit We must worship God and therefore it is naturally necessary that we should do it somewhere in some place now seeing some body must determine this it is most convenient that Authority should determine it according to the conveniency of cohabitation We must not be rude nor do any thing that is naturally undecent in the Worship of God this Authority should restrain but further than this I doubt not but the Gospel hath left us free and to this end that the less we are tied to external Observances the more intent we should be upon the spiritual and substantial parts of Religion the conforming of our selves to the Mind and Will of God endeavouring to be like God and to have our Souls and Spirits ingaged in those Duties we perform to him So that our Saviour's argument is this God is a Spirit that is the most excellent Nature and Being and therefore must be served with the best We consist of Body and Soul 't is true and we must serve him with our whole Man but principally with our Souls which are the most excellent Part of our selves the Service of our Mind and Spirit is the best we can perform and therefore most agreeable to God who is a Spirit and the best and most perfect Being So that the Inference is this that if God be a Spirit we must worship him in spirit and in truth our Religion must be real and inward and sincere and substantial we must not think to put off God with external observances and with bodily reverence and attendance this we must give him but we must principally regard that our Service of him be reasonable that is directed by our Understandings and accompanied with our Affections Our Religion must consist principally in a sincere love and affection to God which expresseth it self in a real conformity of our lives and actions to his Will and when we make our solemn approaches to him in the Duties of his Worship and Service we must perform all acts of outward Worship to God with a pure and sincere Mind whatever we do in the Service of God we must do it heartily as to the Lord. God is a pure Spirit present to our Spirits intimate to our Souls and conscious to the most secret and retired motions of our Hearts now because we serve the Searcher of Hearts we must serve him with our Hearts Indeed if we did worship God only to be seen of Men a pompous and external Worship would be very suitable to such an end but Religion is not intended to please Men but God and therefore it must be spiritual and inward and real And where-ever the external part of Religion

much in order to knowledge as to practice and therefore we need not wonder that this expression which doth set forth to us the Nature of God is but once used in Scripture and that brought in upon occasion and for another purpose because it is a thing naturally known Plato says that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Body In like manner Tully Nec enim deus ipse qui intelligitur a nobis alio modo intelligi potest nisi mens quaedam soluta libera segregata ab omni concretione mortali we cannot conceive of God but as of a pure Mind intirely free from all mortal composition or mixture And Plutarch after him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is a Mind an abstract being pure from all matter and disintangled from whatever is passible or capable of suffering So that Natural Light informing us that God is a Spirit there was no need why the Scripture should inculcate this it is an excellent medium or argument to prove that the Worship of God should chiefly be spiritual and altho it was not necessary that it should have been mention'd for it self that is to inform us of a thing which we could not otherwise know yet the Wisdom of God by the express mention of this seems to have provided against an Error which some weaker and grosser Spirits might be subject to You know God is pleased by way of condescention and accommodation of himself to our capacity to represent himself to us in Scripture by human Imperfections and gives such descriptions of himself as if he had a Body and bodily Members now to prevent any error or mistake that might be occasion'd hereby it seems very becoming the Wisdom of God somewhere in Scripture expresly to declare the spiritual Nature of God that none through weakness or wilfulness might entertain gross apprehensions of him In speaking to this Proposition I shall I. Explain what is meant by a Spirit II. Endeavour to prove to you that God is a spirit III. Answer an Objection or two IV. Draw some Inferences or Corollaries from the whole I. For the explication of the Notion of a Spirit I shall not trouble you with the strict Philosophical Notion of it as that it is such a substance as is penetrable that is may be in the same place with a Body and neither keep out the Body nor be kept out by it and that the parts which we imagine in it cannot be divided that is really seperated and torn from one another as the parts of a Body but I will give you a negative description of it A Spirit is not Matter it doth not fall under any of our Senses it is that which we cannot see nor touch it is not a Body not Flesh and Blood and Bones for so we find Spirit in Scripture opposed to Flesh and Body Isa 31.3 Their horses are flesh and not spirit So Luke 24. when Christ appeared to his Disciples after his Resurrection they were terrified and supposed it had been a spirit v. 39. But he said Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have The most usual description of a Spirit is by these Negatives it is not a Body hath not Flesh and Bones doth not consist of Matter or of any thing that falls under our Senses that we can see or touch II. For the proof of this Proposition that God is a spirit This is not to be proved by way of demonstration for there is nothing before God or which can be a cause of him but by way of conviction by shewing the absurdity of the contrary The first and most natural Notion that we have of God is that he is a Being every way perfect and from this Notion we must argue concerning the properties which are attributed to God and govern all our Reasonings concerning God by this so that when any thing is said of God the best way to know whether it be to be attributed to him is to enquire whether it be a Perfection or not if it be it belongs to him if it be not it is to be removed from him and if any Man ask why I say God is so or so a Spirit or Good or Just the best reason that can be given is because these are Perfections and the contrary to these are Imperfections So that if I shew that it would be an Imperfection for God to be imagined to be a Body or Matter I prove that he is a Spirit because it is an imperfection that is an absurdity to imagine him any thing else To imagine God to be a Body or Matter doth evidently codtradict four great Perfections of God 1. His Infiniteness or the immensity of his Being Grant me but these two things that there is something in the World besides God some other matter as the Heavens the Air the Earth and all those things which we see and grant me that two Bodies cannot be in the same place at once and then it will evidently follow that where-ever these are God is shut out and consequently God should not be infinite nor in all places and so much as there is of another matter in the World besides God so many breaches there would be in the Divine Nature so many Hiatus 2. The Knowledge and Wisdom of God It cannot be imagined how mere Matter can understand how it can distinctly comprehend such variety of Objects and at one view take in past present and to come Tully speaking of Spirits saith Animorum nulla in terris origo inveniri potest their original cannot be found upon Earth for saith he there is no material or bodily thing Quod vim memoriae mentis cogitationis habeat quod praeterita teneat futura provideat complecti possit praesentia quae sola divina sunt which hath the power of Memory of Vnderstanding of Thought which can retain things past forsee things future and comprehend things present all which Powers are purely Divine 3. Freedom and Liberty For the Laws of matter are necessary nor can we imagine any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any arbitrary Principle in it This puzled the Epicureans as we see in Lucretius For if saith he all things move by certain and necessary Laws and there be a connexion of the parts of matter unto each other so that if you move this that must necessarily be moved whence saith he is Liberty Vnde est hec inquam fatis avulsa voluntas Whence is this Principle of Will whose motions are not under any law of necessity 4. Goodness This follows from the former for he is not good who does not know what he does nor does it freely so that take away Understanding and Liberty and you take away Goodness now take away from God Infiniteness and Knowledge and Liberty and Goodness and you divest him of his Glory you take away his most essential Perfections So that these

come to answer Objections against this Doctrine There are two Objections against this 1. From Reason 2. From Scripture 1. Obj. Reason will be ready to suggest that this is a disparagement to the Divine Nature to tye his Presence to this vile Dunghil of the Earth and fordid Sink of Hell This is a gross Apprehension of God and a measuring of him by our selves Indeed if we look upon God as capable of Injury and Suffering and Offence from the Contagion of any thing here below as we are then indeed there were some strength in this Objection but he is a blessed and pure Being Mens segregata ab omni concretione mortali A Mind free from all mortal Composition or Mixture Tully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disentangled from every thing passible as Plut. Those things that are nauseous to our Senses do not affect him Darkness is uncomfortable to us but the Darkness and the Light are all one to him Wickedness may hurt a man or the son of man but if we multiply our transgressions we do nothing to God as Elihu speaks Job 35.6 Nothing can disquiet or discompose his happy and blessed Nature but he converseth here in this dark and troubled World with less danger of Disturbance or any impure Contagion than the Sun-beams 2. Obj. Does not the Scripture tell us that God sits in the Heavens and dwells on high that Heaven is his throne and that it is the City of the great God Doth not the Lord's Prayer teach us to say Our Father which art in heaven Is he not said to look down from heaven and to hear in heaven his dwelling-place Is it not said that he doth not dwell in temples made with hands And does not Solomon 1 Kings 8.27 put it as a strange question will God indeed dwell on the earth Is he not said to come down and draw near to us and to be afar off from us Now how does this agree with his Immensity and Omnipresence For answer to this I must distinguish the Presence of God There is 1 st his glorious Presence that is such a Presence of God as is accompanied with an extraordinary manifestation of his Glory and that is especially and chiefly confined to Heaven in respect of which it is called his Seat and Throne and the Habitation of his Glory Some degree of this was in the Temple which is the reason of Solomon's Admiration will God indeed dwell on Earth 2 dly There is his gracious Presence which discovers it self by miraculous effects of his Favour and Goodness and Assistance and thereby he is said to dwell in the hearts of good Men and with them that are of an humble and contrite Spirit Isa 57.15 and in respect of this he is said to draw near to us to look down upon us and in respect of the absence of this to be far from us 3 dly There is his essential Presence which is equally and alike in all Places and this is not excluded by those former Expressions which the Scripture useth to denote to us the glorious and gracious Presence of God Fourthly To make some Inferences I will mention only such as the Scripture here takes notice of speaking of God's Immensity I. Inf. That God is a Spirit This necessarily flows from his Immensity for if the Essence of God be every where diffused the Divine Nature must be spiritual otherwise it could not be in the same place were Body and Matter is but must be shut out of the World But this I spoke more largely to in my Discourse of God's being a Spirit This the Psalmist observes here Where shall I go from thy Spirit If he were not a Spirit we might go from him and hide our selves from his Presence II. Inf. That God is Incomprehensible That which is infinite cannot be measured and comprehended by that which is finite and this also the Psalmist takes notice of in the Verse before my Text Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain it III. Inf. That God is Omniscient If God be every where then he knows all things yea even the hidden things of Darkness the Secrets of our Hearts nothing can be hid from an infinite Eye he is present to our Thoughts intimate to our Hearts and Reins this the Psalmist takes notice of 1 2 3 4 and 12 Verses IV. Inf. That God is Omnipotent He can do all things Distance limits the Power of Creatures and makes their hands short but God is every where nothing is out of his reach and this also the Psalmist intimates in the Text v. 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand hold me Fifthly The Use and Improvement I shall make of this shall be 1. To awaken our Fear of him 2. To encourage our Faith and Confidence in him 1. To awaken our Fear of him The Consideration of God's Presence should awaken in us a Fear of Reverence The Presence of an earthly Majesty will awe our Spirits and compose us to Reverence yea the Presence of a wise and good Man how much more should the Presence of the great and glorious the wise and the holy and the just God strike an awe upon our Spirits Wherever we are God is with us we always converse with him and live continually in his Presence now a Heathen could say cum Diis verecunaè agendum We must behave our selves modestly because we are in the presence of God And it should awaken in us a Fear to offend God and a Fear of the divine displeasure for having offended him Fear is the most wakeful Passion in the Soul of man and is the first Principle that is wrought upon in us from the Apprehensions of a Deity it flows immediately from the principle of Self-preservation which God hath planted in every Man's Nature we have a natural Dread and Horror for every thing that can hurt us and endanger our Being or Happiness now the greatest Danger is from the greatest Power for where we are clearly over-match'd we cannot hope to make Opposition nor Resistance with security and success to r●bel with Safety now he that apprehends God to be near him and present to him believes such a Being to stand by him as is possest of an infinite and irresistible Power and will vindicate all Contempt of the Divine Majesty and Violation of his Laws If we believe God to be always present with us Fear will continually take hold of us and we shall say of every place as Jacob did of Bethel surely God is in this place how dreadful is this place When we have at any time provoked God if we believe the just God is at hand to revenge himself and if we believe the power of his anger we shall say with David Psa 76.7 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand before thee when thou art angry Psa 119.120 My flesh trembleth because of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments Sinners consider