A27004:1423
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.
7. If we are not bound to believe Gods wondrous works which have been before our days, then our ancestors are not bound to tell them us, nor we to be thankful for them: The Israelites should not have told their Posterity how they were brought out of the Land of Egypt, nor England keep a day of Thanksgiving for its deliverance from the Powder-plot: But the consequent is absurd: Ergo, so is the antecedent. What have we our tongues for, but to speak of what we know to others? The love that Parents have to their Children will oblige them to acquaint them with all things useful which they know. The Love which men have naturally to truth, will oblige them to divulge it. Who that had but seen an Angel, or received instructions by a Voice from Heaven, or seen the dead raised, would not tell others what he had seen and heard? And to what end should he tell them, if they were not obliged to believe it.
7. If we are not bound to believe Gods wonderous works which have been before our dayes, then our ancestors are not bound to tell them us, nor we to be thankfull for them: The Israelites should not have told their Posterity how they were brought out of the Land of Egypt, nor England keep a day of Thanksgiving for its deliverance from the Powder-plot: But the consequent is absurd: Ergo, so is the antecedent. What have we our tongues for, but to speak of what we know to others? The love that Parents have to their Children will oblige them to acquaint them with all things usefull which they know. The Love which men have naturally to truth, will oblige them to divulge it. Who that had but seen an Angel, or received instructions by a Voice from Heaven, or seen the dead raised, would not tell others what he had seen and heard? And to what end should he tell them, if they were not obliged to believe it.
8. Governments, and Justice, and all humane converse is maintained by the belief of others, and the reports and records of things which we see not: Few of the Subjects see their King. Witnesses carry it in every cause of Justice: Thus Princes prove their Successions and title to their Crowns, and all men their Estates, by the records or testimony of others.