A26923:85
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches by reconciling explication without much disputing. Written by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1691
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.
Q. Though God be said to be purus Actus, it is Actus entit•tivus including potentiam se• virtutem agendi; and [Greek or Hebrew] or Substantiality, is a necessary prior fundamental Conception; for it doth superare captum humanum to conceive of an Act that is not alicujus actus. He that causeth all substantiality and existence, is eminently existent Substance. Many have made it a Dispute, Whether the Creature have any Entity, or be a Shadow; but none whether God be so.
Q. Though God be said to be purus Actus, it is Actus entit•tivus including potentiam se• virtutem agendi; and 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 or Substantiality, is a necessary prior fundamental Conception; for it doth superare captum humanum to conceive of an Act that is not alicujus actus. He that causeth all substantiality and existence, is eminently existent Substance. Many have made it a Dispute, Whether the Creature have any Entity, or be a Shadow; but none whether God be so.
Obj. To be self-conscious, proveth Personality; and to be conscious of the act of another, proveth one the same Person with the other.
Ans. To be self-perceptive, is a good proof of a Vital Act; and to be self-conscious, is a proof of an Intellect: Indeed in GOD the Substance and Act, and so the Personality and Self-perception are not two things, but the same: But yet inadequate Conceptions must be orderly, and so the act conceived as the act of a Power and of a Person: And as is said, every act or faculty that hath self-perception, is not a Person.