A27004:1022
The reasons of the Christian religion the first part, of godliness, proving by natural…
The reasons of the Christian religion the first part, of godliness, proving by natural evidence the being of God ... : the second part, of Christianity, proving by evidence supernatural and natural, the certain truth of the Christian belief ... / by Richard Baxter ... ; also an appendix defending the soul's immortality against the Somatists or Epicureans and other pseudo-philosophers.
London: printed by R. White for Fran. Titon, 1667
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.
1Its true, that self-love and self-flattery doth cause men to think of the Mercy of God, as indulgent to their lusts, and suitable to their fleshly desires; and therefore their conceits are none of the measure of his mercy: But yet it may be perceived, that this foresaid conception of God as Merciful and ready to forgive a capable subject, is warranted by the soberest Reason,2 and is not bred by sin and error: For the wise and better, and less sinful any is, the more he is inclined to such thoughts of God as of a part of his Perfection.
1Its true, that self-love and self-flattery doth cause men to think of the Mercy of God, as indulgent to their lusts, and suitable to their fleshly desires; and therefore their conceits are none of the measure of his mercy: But yet it may be perceived, that this foresaid conception of God as Mercifull and ready to forgive a capable subject, is warranted by the soberest Reason,2 and is not bred by sin and error: For the wise and better, and less sinfull any is, the more he is inclined to such thoughts of God as of a part of his Perfection.
- 1Saepe levant poenas, ereptaque lumina redunt Cum bene peccati poenituisse vident. Ovid. 1. de Pont.
- 2Dissensio ab aliis; à te reconciliatio incipiat: Cum ignoscls ita beneficium tuum tempera, ut non ignoscere videaris, sed absolvere; Quia gravissimum poenae genus est, contumeliosa venia. Senec. Pulchrum est vitam donare petenti statim. Theb.
§. 5. This apprehension is increased in Mankind by Gods obliging us, to forgive one another.