A27004:537
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.
III. It is God in all his Perfections, Omnipotency, Wisdom and Goodness, that is mans ultimate end; but it is the last which supposeth both the other, and to which mans will, ⟨p. 86⟩which must perform the most perfect final act, is most fully suited: And therefore is in a special sort, our ultimate end. The Omnipotency of God, is truly the efficient, dirigent and final Cause of all things, but it is most eminent in Efficiency: The Wisdom of God is truly the efficient, dirigent and final cause of all things: but it is most eminent in Direction and Government: The Goodness of God is truly the efficient, dirigent and final cause: But it is most eminent in being the perfective efficient, and final Cause.
§. 4. Gods ultimate end in Creation and Providence, is not any supply or addition of Perfection or Blessedness in himself; as being absolutely perfect in himself, and capable of no addition.
But those who think that God doth produce all things ex necessitate naturae from Eternity, say, that as the Tree is not perfect without its fruits, so neither is God without his works: They say with Balbus in Cicero, and other Stoics, that the World is the most excellent Being; and that God is but the soul of the World: and though the Soul be a complete soul if it had no body, yet it is not a complete Man: and as the Tree is complete in genere causae without the fruit, yet not as a Totum containing those effects ab essentia which are its Part and End: So say they, God may be perfect without the World, as he is only the Soul and part of the World; but he is not a complete world, nor in toto.
But those who think that God doth produce all things ex necessitate naturae from Eternity, say, that as the Tree is not perfect without its fruits, so neither is God without his works: They say with Balbus in Cicero, and other Stoicks, that the World is the most excellent Being; and that God is but the soul of the World: and though the Soul be a compleat soul if it had no body, yet it is not a compleat Man: and as the Tree is compleat in genere causae without the fruit, yet not as a Totum containing those effects ab essentia which are its Part and End: So say they, God may be perfect without the World, as he is only the Soul and part of the World; but he is not a compleat world, nor in toto.