A26871:146
Cain and Abel malignity that is, enmity to serious godliness, that is, to an…
Cain and Abel malignity that is, enmity to serious godliness, that is, to an holy and heavenly state of heart and life : lamented, described, detected, and unanswerably [sic] proved to be the devilish nature, and the militia of the devil against God and Christ and the church and kingdoms, and the surest sign of a state of damnation / by Richard Baxter, or, Gildas Salvianus ...Cain and Abel malignity that is, enmity to serious godliness, that is, to an holy and heavenly state of heart and life : lamented, described, detected, and unananswerably [sic] proved to be the devilish nature, and the militia of the devil against God and Christ and the church and kingdoms, and the surest sign of a state of damnation / by Richard Baxter, or, Gildas Salvianus ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1689
Chapter 3: Undeniable Reasons against Malignant Enmity to serious Godliness.
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.
Chap. III. Undeniable Reasons against Malignant Enmity to serious Godliness.
1. TO deny that there is a God who is the Supreme Governor of Man, is to be mad in despite of the whole world which proveth it: And it deposeth all Kings, who claim their Authority as given them by God, and as his Officers; for if there be no God, there's none to give them Authority: And to grant that there is a God, and yet deny him our love, honour and obedience, is to speak gross contradiction, or else profess ⟨p. 69⟩open malice against God himself. If he be God, he is perfectly Wise; and should not perfect Wisdom govern us? If he be God, he is perfectly Good, and mans chief Benefactor; and should he not then have our chiefest Love? If he be God, he is of absolute Power; and should he not then be obeyed? If he be God, he made us, and still maintaineth us, and we live continually by his will, and have all that we have of his bounty; and we, and all we have are wholly his own; and is not then all our thanks and service due to him? If he be God, he is our Judge, and will be just in punishing and rewarding; and should we not then serve him with the greatest fear, and with the highest hopes? These things are undeniable.
1. TO deny that there is a God who is the Supreme Governour of Man, is to be mad in despight of the whole world which proveth it: And it deposeth all Kings, who claim their Authority as given them by God, and as his Officers; for if there be no God, there's none to give them Authority: And to grant that there is a God, and yet deny him our love, honour and obedience, is to speak gross contradiction, or else profess ⟨p. 69⟩open malice against God himself. If he be God, he is perfectly Wise; and should not perfect Wisdom govern us? If he be God, he is perfectly Good, and mans chief Benefactor; and should he not then have our chiefest Love? If he be God, he is of absolute Power; and should he not then be obeyed? If he be God, he made us, and still maintaineth us, and we live continually by his will, and have all that we have of his bounty; and we, and all we have are wholly his own; and is not then all our thanks and service due to him? If he be God, he is our Judge, and will be just in punishing and rewarding; and should we not then serve him with the greatest fear, and with the highest hopes? These things are undeniable.