A27004:542
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.
And as for the similitudes in the objection, I answer; 1. That the fructifying of a Tree is an act of Generation;1 and the ends of it are partly the use (for food) to superior sensitive Creatures, especially man; and partly the propagation of its species, because it is mortal. Fructification is indeed its perfection, but that is because it is not made for it self, but for another. Sic vos non vobis, may be written upon all. But God is neither mortal needing a propagation of the species, nor is he subservient to any other, and finally for its use.
And as for the similitudes in the objection, I answer; 1. That the fructifying of a Tree is an act of Generation;1 and the ends of it are partly the use (for food) to superiour sensitive Creatures, especially man; and partly the propagation of its species, because it is mortall. Fructification is indeed its perfection, but that is because it is not made for it self, but for another. Sic vos non vobis, may be written upon all. But God is neither mortall needing a propagation of the species, nor is he subservient to any other, and finally for its use.
- 1Leg. Aenean. Gazeum de Anima 3. P.T. 2 Gr. lat. p. 385, 386, &c.
And as for the Soul, it made not the matter of its own body, but found it made, though in the formation of it, it might be so efficient as domicilium sibi fabricare. But God ⟨p. 88⟩made all matter of nothing, and gave the World whatsoever it is or hath; And therefore was Perfect himself before: For an imperfect being could never have been the cause of such a frame: Therefore he needed no domicilium for himself, nor as an imperfect Part (a form) to concur to the constitution of a whole. But he is the efficient, dirigent and final cause of the World and all things, but not the constituent or essential; for then the Creature and Creator were all one, and God debased, and the Creature deified: But he is to them a supra-essential cause; even more than a form and soul, while he is a total efficient of all.