A27004:352
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.
1§. 11. VIII. If God be not the Governor of the world by Laws, then no man need to fear or avoid any thing forbidden by the Laws of Man, who can either keep it secret by Wit, or keep himself from humane revenge by Power. But the consequent is false: therefore so is the Antecedent.
1§. 11. VIII. If God be not the Governour of the world by Laws, then no man need to fear or avoid any thing forbidden by the Laws of Man, who can either keep it secret by Wit, or keep himself from humane revenge by Power. But the consequent is false: therefore so is the Antecedent.
- 1Stoici dicunt, sinceros esse sapientes, observareque & cavere solicitè, ne quid de se melius quàm sit commendare putemur, fuco seu arte aliqua mala occultante, & bona quae insunt apparere faciente, ac circumcidere vocis omnem fictionem. Laert. in Zenone.
The reason of the consequence is evident; because, where no humane revenge is to be feared, there no punishment at all is to be feared, if God be no Governor of the world: but those that can hide their actions by craft, or make them good by power, need not fear any humane revenge; therefore they need to fear none at all, upon the Atheists grounds. And if that be so, 1. How easy is it for cunning malice to burn a *Town, to kill a King, to poison wife or children, and to defraud a neighbour, and never be discovered? If this be so, then Thieves, Adulterers, Traitors, when they are detected, ⟨p. 51⟩have failed only in point of wit,2 (that they concealed it not) and not in point of honesty and duty. 2. And then any Rebel that can get enow to follow him, hath as good a cause as the King that he rebelleth against; and if he conquer, he need not accuse himself of doing any wrong: And then there will be nothing for conscience to blame any man for, nor for one man to accuse another of, but witlessness or impotency. And then the Thief must suffer only for want of strength or cunning, and not because he did any wrong.