A27004:1630
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 2 › Chapter 8: Of some other subservient and Collateral Arguments for the Christian Verity.
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.
My much converse in the world, with men of all sorts, but most with the persons now described, hath given me opportunity to be fully assured of the truth of this experiment, beyond all doubt. And that which is the best in man, is certainly of God: and therefore that which is suitable and connatural to the best in man, must be of God also.
§. 8. VIII. It confirmeth my belief of the Gospel, to find it so very suitable to the worlds diseases, necessities and business; to reconcile them to God, and fill them with love and heavenly mindedness; which other Religions do meddle with so little, and superficially, and ineffectually.
§. 9. IX. The matter of the Gospel is so holy and spiritual, and against all sin, and evil spirits, that it is incredible that evil spirits, or very bad men, should be the inventers of it: And yet ⟨p. 357⟩to forge so many miracles and matters of fact, and call a man God, and to perplex the world with needless delusory strictnesses, and to father all this on God himself, would have been a villainy so transcendent, that none but men extremely bad could do it. Therefore it must needs be the design of Heaven, and not of Men.
§. 9. IX. The matter of the Gospel is so holy and spiritual, and against all sin, and evil spirits, that it is incredible that evil spirits, or very bad men, should be the inventers of it: And yet ⟨p. 357⟩to forge so many miracles and matters of fact, and call a man God, and to perplex the world with needless delusory strictnesses, and to father all this on God himself, would have been a villany so transcendent, that none but men extremely bad could do it. Therefore it must needs be the design of Heaven, and not of Men.