This thread has been discussing an apologetic approach wrt Natural Revelation. I think these observations from Calvin are very useful in discussing how man knows, what man knows, and what man does with that knowledge.
CHAPTER 3.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD NATURALLY IMPLANTED IN THE HUMAN MIND.
Sections.
1. The knowledge of God being manifested to all makes the reprobate
without excuse. Universal belief and acknowledgement of the existence
of God.
2. Objection--that religion and the belief of a Deity are the
inventions of crafty politicians. Refutation of the objection. This
universal belief confirmed by the examples of wicked men and Atheists.
3. Confirmed also by the vain endeavours of the wicked to banish all
fear of God from their minds. Conclusion, that the knowledge of God is
naturally implanted in the human mind.
1. That there exists in the human minds and indeed by natural instinct,
some sense of Deity, we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself,
to prevent any man from pretending ignorance, has endued all men with
some idea of his Godhead, the memory of which he constantly renews and
occasionally enlarges, that all to a man being aware that there is a
God, and that he is their Maker, may be condemned by their own
conscience when they neither worship him nor consecrate their lives to
his service. Certainly, if there is any quarter where it may be
supposed that God is unknown, the most likely for such an instance to
exist is among the dullest tribes farthest removed from civilisation.
But, as a heathen tells us, [54] there is no nation so barbarous, no
race so brutish, as not to be imbued with the conviction that there is
a God. Even those who, in other respects, seem to differ least from the
lower animals, constantly retain some sense of religion; so thoroughly
has this common conviction possessed the mind, so firmly is it stamped
on the breasts of all men. Since, then, there never has been, from the
very first, any quarter of the globe, any city, any household even,
without religion, this amounts to a tacit confession, that a sense of
Deity is inscribed on every heart. Nay, even idolatry is ample evidence
of this fact. For we know how reluctant man is to lower himself, in
order to set other creatures above him. Therefore, when he chooses to
worship wood and stone rather than be thought to have no God, it is
evident how very strong this impression of a Deity must be; since it is
more difficult to obliterate it from the mind of man, than to break
down the feelings of his nature,--these certainly being broken down,
when, in opposition to his natural haughtiness, he spontaneously
humbles himself before the meanest object as an act of reverence to
God.
2. It is most absurd, therefore, to maintain, as some do, that religion
was devised by the cunning and craft of a few individuals, as a means
of keeping the body of the people in due subjection, while there was
nothing which those very individuals, while teaching others to worship
God, less believed than the existence of a God. I readily acknowledge,
that designing men have introduced a vast number of fictions into
religion, with the view of inspiring the populace with reverence or
striking them with terror, and thereby rendering them more obsequious;
but they never could have succeeded in this, had the minds of men not
been previously imbued with that uniform belief in God, from which, as
from its seed, the religious propensity springs. And it is altogether
incredible that those who, in the matter of religion, cunningly imposed
on their ruder neighbours, were altogether devoid of a knowledge of
God. For though in old times there were some, and in the present day
not a few are found who deny the being of a God, yet, whether they will
or not, they occasionally feel the truth which they are desirous not to
know. We do not read of any man who broke out into more unbridled and
audacious contempt of the Deity than C. Caligula, [55] and yet none
showed greater dread when any indication of divine wrath was
manifested. Thus, however unwilling, he shook with terror before the
God whom he professedly studied to condemn. You may every day see the
same thing happening to his modern imitators. The most audacious
despiser of God is most easily disturbed, trembling at the sound of a
falling leaf. How so, unless in vindication of the divine majesty,
which smites their consciences the more strongly the more they
endeavour to flee from it. They all, indeed, look out for hiding-places
where they may conceal themselves from the presence of the Lord, and
again efface it from their mind; but after all their efforts they
remain caught within the net. Though the conviction may occasionally
seem to vanish for a moment, it immediately returns, and rushes in with
new impetuosity, so that any interval of relief from the gnawing of
conscience is not unlike the slumber of the intoxicated or the insane,
who have no quiet rest in sleep, but are continually haunted with dire
horrific dreams. Even the wicked themselves, therefore, are an example
of the fact that some idea of God always exists in every human mind.
3. All men of sound Judgment will therefore hold, that a sense of Deity
is indelibly engraven on the human heart. And that this belief is
naturally engendered in all, and thoroughly fixed as it were in our
very bones, is strikingly attested by the contumacy of the wicked, who,
though they struggle furiously, are unable to extricate themselves from
the fear of God. Though Diagoras, [56] and others of like stamps make
themselves merry with whatever has been believed in all ages concerning
religion, and Dionysus scoffs at the Judgment of heaven, it is but a
Sardonian grin; for the worm of conscience, keener than burning steel,
is gnawing them within. I do not say with Cicero, that errors wear out
by age, and that religion increases and grows better day by day. For
the world (as will be shortly seen) labours as much as it can to shake
off all knowledge of God, and corrupts his worship in innumerable ways.
I only say, that, when the stupid hardness of heart, which the wicked
eagerly court as a means of despising God, becomes enfeebled, the sense
of Deity, which of all things they wished most to be extinguished, is
still in vigour, and now and then breaks forth. Whence we infer, that
this is not a doctrine which is first learned at school, but one as to
which every man is, from the womb, his own master; one which nature
herself allows no individual to forget, though many, with all their
might, strive to do so. Moreover, if all are born and live for the
express purpose of learning to know God, and if the knowledge of God,
in so far as it fails to produce this effect, is fleeting and vain, it
is clear that all those who do not direct the whole thoughts and
actions of their lives to this end fail to fulfil the law of their
being. This did not escape the observation even of philosophers. For it
is the very thing which Plato meant (in Phoed. et Theact.) when he
taught, as he often does, that the chief good of the soul consists in
resemblance to God; i.e., when, by means of knowing him, she is wholly
transformed into him. Thus Gryllus, also, in Plutarch (lib. guod bruta
anim. ratione utantur), reasons most skilfully, when he affirms that,
if once religion is banished from the lives of men, they not only in no
respect excel, but are, in many respects, much more wretched than the
brutes, since, being exposed to so many forms of evil, they continually
drag on a troubled and restless existence: that the only thing,
therefore, which makes them superior is the worship of God, through
which alone they aspire to immortality.
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[54] "Intelligi necesse est deos, quoniam insitas eorum vel potius
innatas cognitiones habemus.--Quae nobis natura informationem deorum
ipsorum dedit, eadem insculpsit in mentibus ut eos aeternos et beatos
haberemus."--Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. 1 c. 17.--"Itaque inter omnes
omnium gentium summa constat; omnibus enim innatum est, et in animo
quasi insculptum esse deos."--Lib. 2. c. 4. See also Lact. Inst. Div.
lib. 3 c. 10.
[55] Suet. Calig. c. 51.
[56] Cic. De Nat. Deor. lib. 1 c. 23. Valer. Max. lib. 1. c. 1.
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CHAPTER 4.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD STIFLED OR CORRUPTED, IGNORANTLY OR MALICIOUSLY.
Sections.
1. The knowledge of God suppressed by ignorance, many falling away into
superstition. Such persons, however, inexcusable, because their error
is accompanied with pride and stubbornness.
2. Stubbornness the companion of impiety.
3. No pretext can justify superstition. This proved, first, from
reason; and, secondly, from Scripture.
4. The wicked never willingly come into the presence of God. Hence
their hypocrisy. Hence, too, their sense of Deity leads to no good
result.
1. But though experience testifies that a seed of religion is divinely
sown in all, scarcely one in a hundred is found who cherishes it in his
heart, and not one in whom it grows to maturity so far is it from
yielding fruit in its season. Moreover, while some lose themselves in
superstitious observances, and others, of set purpose, wickedly revolt
from God, the result is that, in regard to the true knowledge of him,
all are so degenerate, that in no part of the world can genuine
godliness be found. In saying that some fall away into superstition, I
mean not to insinuate that their excessive absurdity frees them from
guilt; for the blindness under which they labour is almost invariably
accompanied with vain pride and stubbornness. Mingled vanity and pride
appear in this, that when miserable men do seek after God, instead of
ascending higher than themselves as they ought to do, they measure him
by their own carnal stupidity, and, neglecting solid inquiry, fly off
to indulge their curiosity in vain speculation. Hence, they do not
conceive of him in the character in which he is manifested, but imagine
him to be whatever their own rashness has devised. This abyss standing
open, they cannot move one footstep without rushing headlong to
destruction. With such an idea of God, nothing which they may attempt
to offer in the way of worship or obedience can have any value in his
sight, because it is not him they worship, but, instead of him, the
dream and figment of their own heart. This corrupt procedure is
admirably described by Paul, when he says, that "thinking to be wise,
they became fools" (Rom. 1:22). He had previously said that "they
became vain in their imaginations," but lest any should suppose them
blameless, he afterwards adds that they were deservedly blinded,
because, not contented with sober inquiry, because, arrogating to
themselves more than they have any title to do, they of their own
accord court darkness, nay, bewitch themselves with perverse, empty
show. Hence it is that their folly, the result not only of vain
curiosity, but of licentious desire and overweening confidence in the
pursuit of forbidden knowledge, cannot be excused.
2. The expression of David (Psalm 14:1, 53:1), "The fool hath said in
his heart, There is no God," is primarily applied to those who, as will
shortly farther appear, stifle the light of nature, and intentionally
stupefy themselves. We see many, after they have become hardened in a
daring course of sin, madly banishing all remembrance of God, though
spontaneously suggested to them from within, by natural sense. To show
how detestable this madness is, the Psalmist introduces them as
distinctly denying that there is a God, because although they do not
disown his essence, they rob him of his justice and providence, and
represent him as sitting idly in heaven. Nothing being less accordant
with the nature of God than to cast off the government of the world,
leaving it to chance, and so to wink at the crimes of men that they may
wanton with impunity in evil courses; it follows, that every man who
indulges in security, after extinguishing all fear of divine Judgment,
virtually denies that there is a God. As a just punishment of the
wicked, after they have closed their own eyes, God makes their hearts
dull and heavy, and hence, seeing, they see not. David, indeed, is the
best interpreter of his own meaning, when he says elsewhere, the wicked
has "no fear of God before his eyes," (Psalm 36:1); and, again, "He has
said in his heart, God has forgotten; he hideth his face; he will never
see it." Thus although they are forced to acknowledge that there is
some God, they, however, rob him of his glory by denying his power.
For, as Paul declares, "If we believe not, he abideth faithful, he
cannot deny himself," (2 Tim. 2:13); so those who feign to themselves a
dead and dumb idol, are truly said to deny God. It is, moreover, to be
observed, that though they struggle with their own convictions, and
would fain not only banish God from their minds, but from heaven also,
their stupefaction is never so complete as to secure them from being
occasionally dragged before the divine tribunal. Still, as no fear
restrains them from rushing violently in the face of God, so long as
they are hurried on by that blind impulse, it cannot be denied that
their prevailing state of mind in regard to him is brutish oblivion.
3. In this way, the vain pretext which many employ to clothe their
superstition is overthrown. They deem it enough that they have some
kind of zeal for religion, how preposterous soever it may be, not
observing that true religion must be conformable to the will of God as
its unerring standard; that he can never deny himself, and is no
spectra or phantom, to be metamorphosed at each individual's caprice.
It is easy to see how superstition, with its false glosses, mocks God,
while it tries to please him. Usually fastening merely on things on
which he has declared he sets no value, it either contemptuously
overlooks, or even undisguisedly rejects, the things which he expressly
enjoins, or in which we are assured that he takes pleasure. Those,
therefore, who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore
their own delirious fancies; indeed, they would never dare so to trifle
with God, had they not previously fashioned him after their own
childish conceits. Hence that vague and wandering opinion of Deity is
declared by an apostle to be ignorance of God: "Howbeit, then, when ye
knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods."
And he elsewhere declares, that the Ephesians were "without God" (Eph.
2:12) at the time when they wandered without any correct knowledge of
him. It makes little difference, at least in this respect, whether you
hold the existence of one God, or a plurality of gods, since, in both
cases alike, by departing from the true God, you have nothing left but
an execrable idol. It remains, therefore, to conclude with Lactantius
(Instit. Div. lib 1:2, 6), "No religion is genuine that is not in
accordance with truth."
4. To this fault they add a second--viz. that when they do think of God
it is against their will; never approaching him without being dragged
into his presence, and when there, instead of the voluntary fear
flowing from reverence of the divine majesty, feeling only that forced
and servile fear which divine Judgment extorts Judgment which, from the
impossibility of escape, they are compelled to dread, but which, while
they dread, they at the same time also hate. To impiety, and to it
alone, the saying of Statius properly applies: "Fear first brought gods
into the world," (Theb. lib. 1). Those whose inclinations are at
variance with the justice of God, knowing that his tribunal has been
erected for the punishment of transgression, earnestly wish that that
tribunal were overthrown. Under the influence of this feeling they are
actually warring against God, justice being one of his essential
attributes. Perceiving that they are always within reach of his power,
that resistance and evasion are alike impossible, they fear and
tremble. Accordingly, to avoid the appearance of condemning a majesty
by which all are overawed, they have recourse to some species of
religious observance, never ceasing meanwhile to defile themselves with
every kind of vice, and add crime to crime, until they have broken the
holy law of the Lord in every one of its requirements, and set his
whole righteousness at nought; at all events, they are not so
restrained by their semblance of fear as not to luxuriate and take
pleasure in iniquity, choosing rather to indulge their carnal
propensities than to curb them with the bridle of the Holy Spirit. But
since this shadow of religion (it scarcely even deserves to be called a
shadow) is false and vain, it is easy to infer how much this confused
knowledge of God differs from that piety which is instilled into the
breasts of believers, and from which alone true religion springs. And
yet hypocrites would fain, by means of tortuous windings, make a show
of being near to God at the very time they are fleeing from him. For
while the whole life ought to be one perpetual course of obedience,
they rebel without fear in almost all their actions, and seek to
appease him with a few paltry sacrifices; while they ought to serve him
with integrity of heart and holiness of life, they endeavour to procure
his favour by means of frivolous devices and punctilios of no value.
Nay, they take greater license in their grovelling indulgences, because
they imagine that they can fulfil their duty to him by preposterous
expiations; in short, while their confidence ought to have been fixed
upon him, they put him aside, and rest in themselves or the creatures.
At length they bewilder themselves in such a maze of error, that the
darkness of ignorance obscures, and ultimately extinguishes, those
sparks which were designed to show them the glory of God. Still,
however, the conviction that there is some Deity continues to exist,
like a plant which can never be completely eradicated, though so
corrupt, that it is only capable of producing the worst of fruit. Nay,
we have still stronger evidence of the proposition for which I now
contend--viz. that a sense of Deity is naturally engraven on the human
heart, in the fact, that the very reprobate are forced to acknowledge
it. When at their ease, they can jest about God, and talk pertly and
loquaciously in disparagement of his power; but should despair, from
any cause, overtake them, it will stimulate them to seek him, and
dictate ejaculatory prayers, proving that they were not entirely
ignorant of God, but had perversely suppressed feelings which ought to
have been earlier manifested.