A27004:1074
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.
It is true, that it is their own fault that causeth all these ⟨p. 195⟩inconveniences: but its as true,1 that their disease doth need a cure, for which it concerneth them to seek out. The life of man is held upon a constant uncertainty, and no man is sure to live another year: and therefore we have need of precepts so plain as may be easily and quickly learnt, that we may be always ready, if death shall call us to an account. I confess that what I have transcribed from nature is very plain there, to one that already understandeth it: but whether the diseased blindness of the world do not need yet something plainer, let experience determine.
It is true, that it is their own fault that causeth all these ⟨p. 195⟩inconveniencies: but its as true,1 that their disease doth need a cure, for which it concerneth them to seek out. The life of man is held upon a constant uncertainty, and no man is sure to live another year: and therefore we have need of precepts so plain as may be easily and quickly learnt, that we may be always ready, if death shall call us to an account. I confess that what I have transcribed from nature is very plain there, to one that already understandeth it: but whether the diseased blindness of the world do not need yet something plainer, let experience determine.
- 1Parvulos nobis natura dedit igniculos quos celeriter in aliis moribus opinionibusque depravatis sic restinguimus, ut nusquam naturae lumen appareat: —Nunc autem simulatque editi in lucem & suscepti sumus, in omni continuo pravitate versamur, ut pene cum lacte nutricis errorem suxisse videamur: cum vero parentibus redditi, deinde magistris traditi sumus, tum ita variis imbuimur erroribus, ut vanitati veritas, & opinioni confirmatae natura ipsa cedat. Cic. 3. Tusc. Multis signis natura declarat quid velit: — obsurdescimus tamen nescio quo modo, nec ea quae ab ea moventur audimus. Cic. Lael. Si tales nos natura genuisset, ut eam ipsam intueri, & perspicere, eâque optimâ duce cursum vitae conficere possemus: haud esset sane quod quisquam rationem & doctrinam requireret cum natura sufficeret. Nune vero, &c. Cic. 3. Tusc. Quicquid infixum & ingenitum est, lenitur arte, non vincitur. Sn.