A27004:512
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.
Therefore here note, that this Attribute of God (his GOODNESS) doth make Him our Chief Good, in a two-fold respect, both EFFICIENTLY and FINALLY. In some sort it is so with the other Attributes: His Power is Efficiently the spring of our being and actions; and finally and objectively it terminateth our submission and our trust. His Wisdom is the principle of his Laws, and also the object and end of our enquiries and understandings. But his Goodness is the EFFICIENT of all our good in its perfection of causality, and that ⟨p. 82⟩END of our Souls,1 which is commonly called ULTIMATE ULTIMUS. So that to submit to his Power, and to be ruled by his Wisdom, is, as I may say, initially our end. But to be pleasing to his good-will, and to be pleased in his good-will; that is to Love Him, and to be beloved by Him, is the absolute perfection and end of man.
- 1Nihil est Deo similius & gratiis, quàm vir, animo perfecto bonus, qui hominibus caeteris antecellit, quod ipse à Diis immortalibus distat. Luc Apul. de Deo Socr.
Therefore under this his Attribute of Goodness, God is to be spoken of both as our BENEFACTOR and our END; which is to be indeed our summum bonum.
§. 1. Man hath his Being, and all the good which he possesseth, from God, as the sole first Efficient by Creation.