A27004:464
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
Part 1 › Chapter 10: Of GOD's particular Laws as known in Nature.
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.
§. 12. Seeing Man liveth in total dependence upon God, and in continual receivings from him, Nature obligeth him to use his heart and tongue in holy desires expressed and exercised in Prayer, and in returning thanks to his great Benefactor, (of which more anon.)
§. 12. Seeing Man liveth in totall dependance upon God, and in continual receivings from him, Nature obligeth him to use his heart and tongue in holy desires express'd and exercised in Prayer, and in returning thanks to his great Benefactor, (of which more anon.)
For though God know all our sins and wants already, yet the Tongue is fitted to confess our sins, and to express our desires: And by confessing and expressing, a twofold capacity for mercy accreweth to us: That is, 1. Our own Humiliation is excited and increased by the said Confessions; and our Desires, and Love, and Hope, excited and increased by our own Petitions, (the tongue having a power to reflect back on the heart, and the exercise of all good affections being the means of their increase.) 2. And a person that is found in the actual exercise of Repentance and holy Desire, and Love, is morally, and in point of Justice, a much fitter recipient for pardon, and acceptance, and other blessings, than another is: And it being proved by Nature, that Prayer, Confession and Thanksgiving, hath so much usefulness to our good, and to our further duty, Nature will tell us, that the tongue and heart should be thus employed. And therefore Nature teacheth all men in the World, that believe there is a God, to confess their sins to him, and call upon him in their distress, and to give him thanks for their receivings.
For though God know all our sins and wants already, yet the Tongue is fitted to confess our sins, and to express our desires: And by confessing and expressing, a twofold capacity for mercy accreweth to us: That is, 1. Our own Humiliation is excited and increased by the said Confessions; and our Desires, and Love, and Hope, excited and increased by our own Petitions, (the tongue having a power to reflect back on the heart, and the exercise of all good affections being the means of their increase.) 2. And a person that is found in the actual exercise of Repentance and holy Desire, and Love, is morally, and in point of Justice, a much fitter recipient for pardon, and acceptance, and other blessings, than another is: And it being proved by Nature, that Prayer, Confession and Thanksgiving, hath so much usefulness to our good, and to our further duty, Nature will tell us, that the tongue and heart should be thus imployed. And therefore Nature teacheth all men in the World, that believe there is a God, to confess their sins to him, and call upon him in their distress, and to give him thanks for their receivings.