A27004:212
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 5: What this Cause is, in it self. That it is God.
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.
Did we know all the Intelligences, blessed Angels, and holy Spirits, which possess the nobler parts of Nature; and the unhappy degenerate Spirits, that have departed from light and joy, into darkness and horror, by departing from God; yea, if we could see all these comprehensively, at one view; what thoughts should we have of the wisdom of the Creator? And what should we think of the Atheist that denieth it? We should think Bedlam too honourable a place for that man, that could believe, or durst say, that any accidental motion of subtle matter, or fortuitous concourse of Atoms, or any thing below a Wisdom and Power infinitely transcending all that with Man is called by that name, was the first Cause, 1and is the chief continuer of such an incomprehensible frame.
Did we know all the Intelligences, blessed Angels, and holy Spirits, which possess the nobler parts of Nature; and the unhappy degenerate Spirits, that have departed from light and joy, into darkness and horrour, by departing from God; yea, if we could see all these comprehensively, at one view; what thoughts should we have of the wisdom of the Creator? And what should we think of the Atheist that denyeth it? We should think Bedlam too honourable a place for that man, that could believe, or durst say, that any accidental motion of subtile matter, or fortuitous concourse of Atomes, or any thing below a Wisdom and Power infinitely transcending all that with Man is called by that name, was the first Cause, 1and is the chief continuer of such an incomprehensible frame.
- 1Quod si inest in hominum genere, mens, fides, virtus, concordia, unde haec in terras nisi à superis diffluere potuerunt? Cumque sit in nobis consilium, ratio, prudentia, necesse est Deos haec ipsa habere majora: Nec habere solum, sed etiam his uti, in optimis & maximis rebus. Cicero de natur. Dorum. lib. 2. pag. 76.