A26935:22
Gods goodness vindicated for the help of such (especially in melancholy) as are tempted…
Gods goodness vindicated for the help of such (especially in melancholy) as are tempted to deny it, and think him cruel, because of the present and future misery of mankind, with respect to the doctrine of reprobation and damnation / by Richard Baxter ... ; published and prefaced by a friend at whose desire it was written, and to whom it was committed.
London: printed for N. Simmons, 1671
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.
Quest. 10. Are not now both these conclusions of infallible certainty, and therefore not at all contradictory, 1. That God is most Good, because he is the cause of all the Good in the whole Creation, 2. And yet that there are Toads, Serpents, Darkness, Death, Sickness, pains, &c. which therefore are no whit inconsistent with his Goodness? neither of them being capable of a denial, or of a sober doubt.
Quest. 10. Are not now both these conclusions of infallible certainty, and therefore not at all contradictory, 1. That God is most Good, because he is the cause of all the Good in the whole Creation, 2. And yet that there are Toads, Serpents, Darkness, Death, Sickness, pains, &c. which therefore are no whit inconsistent with his Goodness? neither of them being capable of a denyal, or of a sober doubt.
Quest. 10. Is not an Angel, and Man, endued with Reason and Free-will, and left to choose or refuse his own Rectitude and Felicity (or misery,) capable of Knowing, Loving, Serving and Enjoying God, if he will; and instructed by a Perfect holy Law (with Rewards and Punishments) to choose aright, I say, Is not such a Creature as noble and as meet for God to make as a stone or a toad or worm, or Serpent? If God choose to please his own holy will, by making a world of such Intellectual free agents, whom he will (ordinarily) rule by the way of Moral Laws and ⟨p. 22⟩Motives, is this any disparagement to his Wisdom and Goodness? It is true, that such a mutable free-will is below a confirmed immutable will. But it is as true, that a Toad is below a man. And that Infinite wisdom thought not meet to make all his Creatures of one rank or size, not to make all faces alike, nor all the stones in the street alike, but in wonderful variety. It is not then unbeseeming God to make a world of Rational free agents; under such a moral Government by Laws.