A27004:1035
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.
Even now mens consciences take God's part against themselves, and tell them, that the Infinite Good, that communicateth all the Goodness to the creature, which it hath, is not so likely to be the cause of so odious a thing as sin, nor of mans destruction as he himself. If I see a Sheep lie torn in the high-way, I will sooner suspect the Wolf than a Lamb to be the cause, if I see them both stand by: and if I see a Child drowned in scalding water, I will sooner suspect that he fell in by folly and heedlessness himself, than that his Mother wilfully cast him in. Is not silly naughty man much liker to be the cause of sin and misery, than the wise and gracious God? Much more hereafter will the sinners conscience justify God.
Even now mens consciences take God's part against themselves, and tell them, that the Infinite Good, that communicateth all the Goodness to the creature, which it hath, is not so likely to be the cause of so odious a thing as sin, nor of mans destruction as he himself. If I see a Sheep lie torn in the high-way, I will sooner suspect the Wolf than a Lamb to be the cause, if I see them both stand by: and if I see a Child drown'd in scalding water, I will sooner suspect that he fell in by folly and heedlesness himself, than that his Mother wilfully cast him in. Is not silly naughty man much liker to be the cause of sin and misery, than the wise and gracious God? Much more hereafter will the sinners conscience justifie God.
§. 11. God hath planted in the common nature of mankind an inseparable inclination to Truth as Truth, and to Good as Good, and a Love to themselves, and a desire to be happy, and a loathness to be miserable; together with some reverence and honour of God, (till they have extinguished the belief of his being) and a hatred and horror of the Devil, (while they believe he is): All which are a fit Stock to plant Reforming-truths ⟨p. 187⟩in, and Principles fit to be improved for mens conversion, 1and the excitation and improvement of them, is much of that recovering work.