A26921:194
Richard Baxter's dying thoughts upon Phil. I, 23 written for his own life and…
Richard Baxter's dying thoughts upon Phil. I, 23 written for his own life and the latter times of his corporal pains and weakness.
London: printed by Tho. Snowden for B. Simmons, 1683
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.
O Father of Lights, who givest Wisdom to them that ask it of thee, shut not up this sinful Soul in darkness! Leave me not to grope in unsatisfied doubts, at the Door of the Celestial Light! Or if my Knowledge must be General, let it be clear and powerful; and deny me not now the lively exercise of FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE which are the stirrings of the New Creature, and the dawnings of the everlasting Light, and the Earnest of the promised Inheritance.
O Father of Lights, who givest Wisdom to them that ask it of thee, shut not up this sinful Soul in darkness! Leave me not to grope in unsatisfied doubts, at the Door of the Celestial Light! Or if my Knowledg must be General, let it be clear and powerful; and deny me not now the lively exercise of FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE which are the stirrings of the New Creature, and the dawnings of the everlasting Light, and the Earnest of the promised Inheritance.
§ 20. But we are oft ready to say with Cicero, when he had been reading such as Plato, that while the Book is in our Hands, we seem confident of our Immortality, and when we lay it by our doubts return; so our Arguments seem clear and cogent, and yet when we think not of them with the best advantage, we are oft surprised with Fear, lest we should be mistaken, and our Hopes be vain; and hereupon) and from the common fear of Death, that even good men too often manifest) the ⟨p. 62⟩Infidels gather that we do but force our Selves into such a Hope as we desire to be true, against the tendency of mans Nature and that we were not made for a better World.
§ 20. But we are oft ready to say with Cicero, when he had been reading such as Plato, that while the Book is in our Hands, we seem confident of our Immortality, and when we lay it by our doubts return; so our Arguments seem clear and cogent, and yet when we think not of them with the best advantage, we are oft surprized with Fear, lest we should be mistaken, and our Hopes be vain; and hereupon) and from the common fear of Death, that even good men too often manifest) the ⟨p. 62⟩