Stephen Charnock on Right Conceptions of God

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, in Works of Stephen Charnock, Vol. 1, p. 279:

Conceive of Him as excellent, without any imperfection. A Spirit without parts; great without quantity; everywhere without place; powerful without members; understanding without ignorance; wise without reasoning; light without darkness; infinitely more excelling the beauty of all creatures, than the light in the sun pure and unviolated exceeds the splendor of the sun dispersed and divided through a cloudy and misty air. And when you have risen to the highest, conceive of Him yet infinitely above all you can conceive of spirit, and acknowledge the infirmity of your own minds. And whatsoever conception comes into your minds, say, This is not God; God is more than this. If I could conceive of Him, He were not God, for God is incomprehensibly above whatsoever I can say, or whatsoever I can think and conceive of Him.