A27004:395
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.
§. 24. The Consciences of men do secretly accuse them, or excuse them, according to this sort of Good or Evil.
When men have wrangled against Religion never so long, there are very few so blind and bad, in whom God hath not a resident witness, called Conscience, which secretly telleth a man that he doth well or ill, as he keepeth or breaketh the Laws of Nature, and that with respect to the Sovereign Law-giver, and not only to the good or hurt of man. As Conscience doth not accuse a man for being poor or sick, or wronged by another (though about these we may have also inward trouble) so it doth not justify him for his Prosperity in the World (though it may be laid asleep and quieted by such means). But it is for Moral Good or Evil that Conscience doth accuse or justify: If I make my self poor wilfully, my Conscience will trouble me for the wilful fault, and breed in me repentance and remorse: And so it will if I hurt or impoverish my neighbour: But if I hurt my self or neighbour unavoidably without any fault of mine, I am sorry for it, but my Conscience will not accuse or condemn me for it.
When men have wrangled against Religion never so long, there are very few so blinde and bad, in whom God hath not a resident witness, called Conscience, which secretly telleth a man that he doth well or ill, as he keepeth or breaketh the Laws of Nature, and that with respect to the Soveraign Law-giver, and not only to the good or hurt of man. As Conscience doth not accuse a man for being poor or sick, or wronged by another (though about these we may have also inward trouble) so it doth not justifie him for his Prosperity in the World (though it may be laid asleep and quieted by such means). But it is for Morall Good or Evil that Conscience doth accuse or justifie: If I make my self poor wilfully, my Conscience will trouble me for the wilful fault, and breed in me repentance and remorse: And so it will if I hurt or impoverish my neighbour: But if I hurt my self or neighbour unavoidably without any fault of mine, I am sorry for it, but my Conscience will not accuse or condemn me for it.