A35537:1329
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of the book of Job being the substance of thirty-five lectures / by Joseph Caryl ...
London: printed by M. Simmons, 1664
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations UPON The Thirty-fifth, Th… › Chapter 36 › Verse 26
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
For answer to this, when the text saith, God is great and we know him not; we may say, First, That even heathens, the untaught, untutored, and uncatechized heathens do, or, may know ⟨p. 374⟩God, that is, they may know him in some degree or other, they may, yea, they do know him (as the Apostle saith, Rom. 1.20.) so far as to leave them without excuse; they have no plea, nor can they make any apology for themselves. Secondly, 'Tis certain, all believers, I mean all true believers, know God savingly, or so far as is sufficient for their salvation. Every believer knows God. There is no faith in God without the knowledge of God. Thirdly, Which shall be the point of Observation from this part, as well as an answer to the question; None know God fully, perfectly, comprehensively.
For answer to this, when the text saith, God is great and we know him not; we may say, First, That even heathens, the untaught, untutored, and uncatechized heathens do, or, may know ⟨p. 374⟩God, that is, they may know him in some degree or other, they may, yea, they do know him (as the Apostle saith, Rom. 1.20.) so far as to leave them without excuse; they have no plea, nor can they make any apologie for themselves. Secondly, 'Tis certain, all believers, I mean all true believers, know God savingly, or so far as is sufficient for their salvation. Every believer knows God. There is no faith in God without the knowledge of God. Thirdly, Which shall be the point of Observation from this part, as well as an answer to the question; None know God fully, perfectly, comprehensively.
That's Elihu's meaning when he saith, God is great, and we know him not; that is, we know not how great he is, or we know not the utmost of his greatness. God only knoweth himself fully and comprehensively. There is no proportion between the greatness of God and the understanding of a man. The greatness of God is infinite, the understanding of a man is but finite and limited; the deepest understanding among men, yea, the understanding of Angels is but shallow, compared with God. Thus we are to understand this text, God is great, and we know him not. There is a greatness in every thing of God, transcending the possibility of any created understanding. This some give for the reason, why the Seraphims spoken of (