A27004:1043
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.
The nearness of things maketh them to work on the mind of man the more powerfully: distant things, though sure and great, do hardly awaken the mind to their reception and due consideration. If men lived 600 or 1000 years in the world, it were no wonder if covetousness, and carnality, and ⟨p. 188⟩security made them like Devils, and worse than wild beasts to one another: But when men cannot choose but know, that they must certainly and shortly see the end of all that ever this world will do for them, and are never sure of another hour; this is so great a help to sober consideration, and conversion, that it must be monstrous stupidity and brutishness that must overcome it.
The nearness of things maketh them to work on the mind of man the more powerfully: distant things, though sure and great, do hardly awaken the mind to their reception and due consideration. If men lived 600 or 1000 years in the world, it were no wonder if covetousness, and carnality, and ⟨p. 188⟩security made them like Devils, and worse than wild beasts to one another: But when men cannot chuse but know, that they must certainly and shortly see the end of all that ever this world will do for them, and are never sure of another hour; this is so great a help to sober consideration, and conversion, that it must be monstrous stupidity and brutishness that must overcome it.
1§. 16. It is also a great advantage for man's conversion, that all the world revealeth God to him, and every thing telleth him of the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness, and Love of God; and of his constant Presence; and so showeth him an object which should as easily over-power all sensual objects, which would seduce his soul, as a mountain will weigh down a feather.
1§. 16. It is also a great advantage for man's conversion, that all the world revealeth God to him, and every thing telleth him of the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness, and Love of God; and of his constant Presence; and so sheweth him an object which should as easily over-power all sensual objects, which would seduce his soul, as a mountain will weigh down a feather.