A26892:193
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.
§. 7. 4. I suppose thee to be one that knowest that thou didst not make thy self; nor give thy self that Power or Wisdom which thou hast; and that he that made thee and all the world, must needs be before all the world, and that he is Eternal, having no Beginning: (for if ever there had been a time when there was nothing, there never would have been any thing; because Nothing can make nothing:) And I suppose thou dost confess that all the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness of the whole Creation set together, is less than the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness of the Creator: Because nothing can give more than it hath to give. I suppose therefore that thou dost confess that there is a God: For to be [The Eternal Infinite Being, and the most Powerful, Wise and Good, and the first Cause of all Created Being, and Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness] this (with the subsequent Relations to the Creature) is to be GOD. If thou wilt deny that there is a God, thou must deny that thou art a man, and that there is any man, or any Being.
§. 8. 5. I suppose thou knowest that GOD who gave a Being unto all things, is by this title of1 Creation, the Absolute Owner or Lord of All: And that he that made the Reasonable Creatures, with Natures to be Governed in order to a further End, is by that title, their Supreme Governor, and therefore hath his Laws commanding Duty, and promising Reward, and threatening punishment; and therefore will Judge men according to these Laws, and will be Just in judgement, and in his Rewards and Punishments. And that he that freely gave the Creature it's Being, and all the Good it hath, and must give it all that ever it shall have, is the Father or most Bountiful Benefactor to his Creatures. Surely I screw thee not too high in supposing thee to know all this: For all this is no more than that there is a God. For he is not God, if he be not the Creator, and therefore our Owner, our Ruler, and Benefactor, our Absolute Lord, our most Righteous Governor, and our most Loving Father or Benefactor.
§. 8. 5. I suppose thou knowest that GOD who gave a Being unto all things, is by this title of1