A27004:421
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.
There is no Sovereign without a Subject: Subjection is our Relation to our Governor, or else our consent to that Relation. In the former sense we take it here. A Subject is one that is bound to obey another as his Ruler. He that is a Subject by Right and Obligation, and yet doth not consent and actually subject himself to his rightful Governor, is a Rebel. There cannot be greater obligations to subjection imagined by a created understanding, than the Rational Creature hath to God.
There is no Soveraign without a Subject: Subjection is our Relation to our Governour, or else our consent to that Relation. In the former sense we take it here. A Subject is one that is bound to obey another as his Ruler. He that is a Subject by Right and Obligation, and yet doth not consent and actually subject himself to his rightful Governour, is a Rebel. There cannot be greater obligations to subjection imagined by a created understanding, than the Rational Creature hath to God.
§. 2. All men are obliged to consent to this subjection, and to give up themselves absolutely to the government of God.
God's absolute propriety in us as his creatures, giveth him so full a Title to govern us, that our consent is not at all necessary to our obligation and subjection-relative; but only to our actual obedience, which cannot be performed by one that consenteth not. Therefore God's right and our natural condition are the foundation of our subjection to him, as to Obligation and Duty; and he that consenteth not, sinneth by high Treason against his Sovereign. As God did not ask our consent whether he should make us men, so neither whether he should be our Governor and we his Subjects as to obligation: nor yet whether he shall punish the rebellious and disobedient. But he asketh our consent to obey him, and to be rewarded by him: for we shall neither be holy nor happy but ⟨p. 66⟩