A27004:405
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.
§. 28. Any signification of the will of God, that man shall be benefited on condition of his obedience, is the praemiant part of his Law: And any signification of his will, that man shall be punished if he sin (or that punishment shall be his due) is the penal part of his Law.
If it only foretold that in a way of Physical efficiency, obedience will produce good, and disobedience hurt to himself, this were not properly, praemiant or penal; But when the Good is promised upon the condition of obedience, and the hurt threatened upon condition of sin, as means to move a rational free Agent to obey, this is truly a praemiant and penal act of Law: And this is fulfilled also in a physical way of production; the Law-giver being also the Creator and Disposer of all the World, doth wisely order it, that Moral good shall be attended with Physical good, and Moral evil with Physical evil; first or last.
If it only foretold that in a way of Physical efficiency, obedience will produce good, and disobedience hurt to himself, this were not properly, praemiant or penal; But when the Good is promised upon the condition of obedience, and the hurt threatned upon condition of sin, as means to move a rational free Agent to obey, this is truly a praemiant and penal act of Law: And this is fulfilled also in a physical way of production; the Law-giver being also the Creator and Disposer of all the World, doth wisely order it, that Morall good shall be attended with Physical good, and Moral evil with Physical evil; first or last.
§. 29. The Immensity (or Omnipresence) the Omnipotency, 1Omniscience, and infinite goodness of God, with his total Causation in the support of all his Creatures, do most undoubtedly prove his particular Providence, in observing and regarding all the actions of his Subjects in the World; and so declare his actual government.