Nature (15)
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The whole world is a great vast library, and every creature in it a several book, wherein he that runs may read the power, and goodness, and infinite perfections of its Maker.The Christian Man\'s Calling
The Divine Word, through which... all things were made, became flesh in Jesus Christ. The Word has entered into the root and the temporal ramifications, in body and soul, of human nature. And therefore it has brought about a radical redemption. Sin is not dialectically reconciled, but it is really propitiated. And in Christ as the new root of the human race, the whole temporal cosmos, which was religiously concentrated in man, is in principle again directed toward God and thereby wrested free from the power of Satan.
A glass window stands before us. We raise our eyes and see the glass; we note its quality, and observe its defects; we speculate on its composition. Or we look straight through it on the great prospect of land and sea and sky beyond. So there are two ways of looking at the world. We may see the world and absorb ourselves in the wonder of nature. That is the scientific way. Or we may look right through the world and see God behind it . That is the religious way.Selected Shorter Writings - I
Our blessed Saviour teacheth us to see the face of heavenly things in earthly glasses, and to make a ladder of the creatures, whereby we may ascend to heaven in our thoughts. He hath set us a pattern that we should follow his steps. What honey of profit and pleasure doth he teach us to draw from all the flowers and weeds that grow in the garden of creation! He instructeth his disciples by liles growing, and seed sown in the field; by trees and vines in the orchard and vineyard; by pearls, treasures, tares, leaven, mustard-seed, water, bread, nets, fish, salt, oil, lamps, and as at Cana in Galilee, turns all this water into wine, as well for their imitation as information.
Luther relates a story of two cardinals riding to the council at Constance, how by the way they heard a shepherd weeping and crying out sadly, upon which they turned aside to know what was the matter, and found the shepherd looking upon an ugly toad. They asked him the ground of his lamentation. He answered, I cannot but weep to consider the goodness of God, that he did not make much such a loathsome creature, and my own unthankfulness, that I should be no more sensible of it. At which one of the cardinals was so affected, that he fell from his horse in a swoon, and coming again afterwards to himself, told his brother : Well said St Augustine, Indocti rapiunt coelum, & c. The unlearned take heaven by violence, whilst we, with all our parts and learning, wallow in the mire of the earth and flesh.
God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.
The Bible isn't about people trying to discover God, but about God reaching out to find us.
New Quotes
For though Christ's human nature, which was the instrument in the obedience and sufferings, was finite, yet this does not lessen the value of the satisfaction, because it derives its perfection from the divine person of Christ, to which all his actions must be attributed; as he is the person who obeyed and suffered.
Many people visualize a God who sits comfortably on a distant throne, remote, aloof, uninterested, and indifferent to the needs of mortals, until, it may be, they can badger him into taking action on their behalf. Such a view is wholly false. The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until he finds him.
An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.
God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.Works of Jonathan Edwards Volume 17 Sermons and Discourses
the trichotomist view that sin shuts down the spirit and that redemption reawakens it is without biblical basis. Further, it contradicts the biblical emphasis that the whole person is fallen into sin (e.g., Gen. 6:5) and needs the deliverance of Christ. Redemption is not a rearrangement of human faculties, putting one of them on top of the others. Plato imagined something like this, but it is not a biblical view. Rather, redemption turns the whole person, including all aspects of his personality, from hating God to loving him. Salvation, as Cornelius Van Til used to say, is ethical, not metaphysical.Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Kindle Locations 21024-21026). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.
These passages do not make precise distinctions between these terms-certainly not precise enough to define metaphysical components of human existence. Scripture typically uses "spirit" and "soul" interchangeably.Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Kindle Locations 21024-21026). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.
he who is most deeply abased and alarmed, by the consciousness of his disgrace, nakedness, want, and misery, has made the greatest progress in the knowledge of himselfBook 2 Chapter 2
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