What were the ten attributes of God that Puritan Stephen Charnock said could be understood by fallen man in light of nature?

Stephen Charnock describes ten specific attributes that can be understood by the light of nature;

  • One, the power of God in creating a world out of nothing (exnihillo).
  • Two, the wisdom of God, in the order, variety and beauty of creation.
  • Three, the goodness of God, in the provision God makes for His creatures.
  • Four, the unchangeableness of God, for if He were mutable, He would lack the perfection of the sun and heavenly bodies, “wherein no change hath been observed.”
  • Five, His eternity, for he must exist before what was made in time.
  • Six, the omniscience of God, since as the Creator He must necessarily know everything He has made.
  • Seven, the sovereignty of God, “in the obedience his creatures pay to him, in observing their several orders, and moving in the spheres wherein he set them”.
  • Eight, the spirituality of God, insofar as God is not visible, “and the more spiritual any creature in the world is, the more pure it is.”
  • Nine, the sufficiency of God, for He gave all creatures a beginning, and so their being was not necessary, which means God was in no need of them.
  • Ten, His majesty, seen in the glory of the heavens.

Charnock concludes that all these attributes of God may be known by sinful man by observation of the natural world.

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4 Comments on “What were the ten attributes of God that Puritan Stephen Charnock said could be understood by fallen man in light of nature?”

  1. Good stuff. Did this come from “Existence and Attributes of God”? If so, around what page/section?

  2. Noted in Puritan Theology, chapter one.

  3. […] article was written by Michael Dewalt of Gospel-Centered Musings. Re-blogged on GospelFuel.com by […]


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