A27004:1346
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.
And it is to be observed, that this great change is very often wrought on a sudden, in a prevalent (though not a perfect) degree. One Sermon hath done that for a many thousand sinners, which twenty years teaching of the greatest Philosophers never did. One Sermon hath turned them from the sins which they had lived in all their days; and hath turned them to a life which they were strangers to before, or else abhorred: One Sermon hath taken down the world, which had their hearts, and hath put it under their feet, and hath turned their hearts to another world: which showeth that there is an internal Agent, more powerful than the speaker.
And it is to be observed, that this great change is very often wrought on a sudden, in a prevalent (though not a perfect) degree. One Sermon hath done that for a many thousand sinners, which twenty years teaching of the greatest Philosophers never did. One Sermon hath turned them from the sins which they had lived in all their days; and hath turned them to a life which they were strangers to before, or else abhorred: One Sermon hath taken down the world, which had their hearts, and hath put it under their feet, and hath turned their hearts to another world: which sheweth that there is an internal Agent, more powerful than the speaker.
And it is remarkable that in the main, the change is wrought in one and the same method: first, humbling men for sin and misery, and then leading them to Jesus Christ as ⟨p. 284⟩the remedy, and to God by him; and so kindling the love of God in them by the bellows of faith; and then leading them towards perfection in the exercises of that holy love.
III. And it will further lead us to the original of this Change, to consider on whom it is thus wrought. 1. For their place and time. 2. Their quality in themselves. 3. And as compared to each other. 4. And as to their numbers.