A27004:343
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.
Obj. But if Chief Governors be under no Law, they are under Covenants, by which they are obliged.
Obj. But if Chief Governours be under no Law, they are under Covenants, by which they are obliged.
Answ. What shall make their Covenants obligatory to their consciences, if they be under no government of God? The reason why mens Covenants bind them, is, because they are under the government of God, who requireth all men to keep their Covenants, and condemneth Covenant-breakers. But if God had never commanded Covenant-keeping, nor forbade Covenant-breaking, they could never be matter of duty or sin. So that this Doctrine, that God hath made no Laws for man, and is not his Governor, doth leave all Sovereigns from under the least conscientious restraint from any acts of cruelty or injustice, and tendeth to deliver up the world to be a sacrifice to their lusts: when it is the government of the universal Sovereign that is their restraint.
Answ. What shall make their Covenants obligatory to their consciences, if they be under no government of God? The reason why mens Covenants bind them, is, because they are under the government of God, who requireth all men to keep their Covenants, and condemneth Covenant-breakers. But if God had never commanded Covenant-keeping, nor forbad Covenant-breaking, they could never be matter of duty or sin. So that this Doctrin, that God hath made no Laws for man, and is not his Governour, doth leave all Soveraigns from under the least conscientious restraint from any acts of cruelty or injustice, and tendeth to deliver up the world to be a sacrifice to their lusts: when it is the government of the universal Soveraign that is their restraint.
1§. 9. VI. If God have not the Sovereignty over all the world, then no man on earth can have any Governing Power: But Princes and Rulers have a Governing Power: Therefore the Sovereignty is in God.