A26892:1670
A Christian Directory
A Christian directory, or, A sum of practical theology and cases of conscience directing Christians how to use their knowledge and faith, how to improve all helps and means, and to perform all duties, how to overcome temptations, and to escape or mortify every sin : in four parts ... / by Richard Baxter.A Christian directory, or, A summ of practical theologie and cases of conscience directing Christians how to use their knowledge and faith, how to improve all helps and means, and to perform all duties, how to overcome temptations, and to escape or mortifie every sin : in four parts ... / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons, 1673
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Answ. That all Goodness is some ones Goodness, proveth but that some one is the Subject or Being that is Good, but not that to Be, is better than to be Good as such. And as he is in some respect the finis cui, for whom it is, and so it is Good to him; yet he and his Goodness are for a higher end, which is the pleasing of God in the demonstration of his Goodness. That therefore is best, which most demonstrateth Gods Goodness. And there is no subject or substance without its accidents or modes: And that person that is not Good and Holy, is Bad and Unholy: Therefore the question should be, Whether a person bad and unholy, be more amiable than a person good and holy, that hath both Physical and Moral Goodness. And for all that the name of an Accident maketh Action seem below the person; yet it must be also said, that the person and his faculties, are for Action, as being but the substance in a perfect Mode, and that Action is for higher ends than the persons being or felicity.
Object. 8. Love is nothing but benevolence, Veil bonum alicui ut ei bene sit. But who is it that would not wish good to God, that is to be blessed as he is? But how can holiness then be loved, but rather the person for his holiness; because we cannot wish it good, but only to be what it is.
Object. 8. Love is nothing but benevolence, Velle bonum alicui ut ei bene sit. But who is it that would not wish good to God, that is to be blessed as he is? But how can holiness then be loved, but rather the person for his holiness; because we cannot wish it good, but only to be what it is.
Answ. The definition is false, as hath been showed, and as the instance proveth: else a man could not be said to love Learning, Virtue, or any quality, but only to love the person that wanteth it, or hath it. But Love is a Complacency, and benevolence is but its effect or antecedent. 2. The unholy wish not good to God, for they would all depose him from his Godhead: They would not have him to be a hater of their sin, nor to be their Holy and Righteous Governor and Judge.