A27004:139
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
Part 1 › Chapter 4: Of Man, and other things, as produced by their first Cause.
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.
§. 2. I did not make my self, 1at least as an independent uncaused being.
- 1Animorum nulla in terris origo est. Nil enim est in animis nostris mistum & concretum, aut quod ex terra natum, humidum, igneum, &c. His enim naturis nihil inest quod vim memoriae, mentis, cogitationis habeat, &c. Nec invenietur unquam unde ad hominem venire possint, nisi à Deo. Cicero.
I could not as I am, make my self what I am: for so my self as the cause should be before my self as the effect, which is a contradiction, unless the word [self] be used equivocally. When I was not I acted not. If it be said by any, that the Soul did fabricate a Body to it self, and so one part of me made the other, I answer, 1. My soul did not make the matter of that Body: for if it did, it made it of something or of nothing; if of something, either it made that something or not; if not, then it made not the first matter of the Body. If it made it of nothing, it must be Omnipotent; but it is conscious of impotency. 2. My soul did not make it self, for then it must be before it self, which is impossible. And if I made neither form nor matter, I did not make my self. If it be said, that my Soul is an eternal uncaused being, and so did fabricate this Body as a dwelling for it self: I answer, 1. As to the supposed ⟨p. 10⟩fabrication,1 it is conscious it self of no such thing. And if my Soul made my body, either it was as a causa subministra vel instrumentalis, by the direction and power of a superior cause, or else of and by it self as the prime cause. If the first, then it is a caused and dependent being it self, and so leadeth us to a higher cause. If the second be affirmed, and so my Soul an eternal, uncaused, independent being; then, 1. That which is without beginning, cause and dependency, must needs be self-sufficient, and be the highest excellency; it must have an infiniteness, and need no help from any other: But my Soul is conscious of imperfection in knowledge, its ignorance is its burden and dishonour,