Demonstration of the Atheist's Folly, Part Six

Charnock next observes that the being that does not understand itself thoroughly and is not capable of ordering itself cannot make itself. In order to make something properly one has to comprehend it. More than three centuries after Charnock wrote man still lacks comprehensive knowledge of himself, of his own nature. It is certain that this is not just lost knowledge--that at one point in the distant past some supremely wise man had such knowledge but somehow failed to pass it on.

He also observes, somewhat parenthetically, that the knowledge of ourselves we gain from Scripture about our nature, while not accessibly through the exercise of reason, is not contrary to reason. Here he would be talking chiefly about man's sinfulness and fall from original righteousness.

Charnock then explores a hypothetical: Say for the sake of argument that the first man did in fact make himself. If this is the case, why did he make himself with limits? Why is man not decked out in power and excellences? It is a certainty that man desires to be much more than he is; why not indulge all his desires at the outset? In fact, man's limitations testify to his contingency.