A27004:651
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.
For the thoughts are the exercise of a commanded faculty, which must be under the power of our will: and the ultimate end, and the exercises of love to it, should daily govern ⟨p. 110⟩them.1 And what a man loveth most, usually he will think of, with his most practical powerful thoughts, if not with the most frequent.
- 1When the Oracle of Delphos adjudged the Tripos to the wisest, it was sent to Thales, and from him to another, till it came to Solon, who sent it to the Oracle, saying, None is wiser than God. Laert. in Thalet. So should we all send back to God the glory and praise of all good which is ascribed to us.When the Oracle of Delphos adjudged the Tripos to the wisest, it was sent to Th•les, and from him to another, till it came to Solon, who sent it to the Oracle, saying, None is wiser than God. Laert. in Thalet. So should we all send back to God the glory and praise of all good which is ascribed to us.
§. 39. The love of God should employ our tongues in the proclaiming of his praise and benefits, and expressing our own admiration and affection, to kindle the like in the souls of others.
For the same God who is so amiable, hath given us our speech with the rest of his benefits, and given it us purposely to declare his praise. Reason telleth us that we have no higher, worthier, or better employment for our tongues; and that we should use them to the best. The tongues of men are adorned with language, for charitable and pious communication, that they may be fit to affect the hearts of others, and to kindle in them that sacred fire, which is kindled in themselves. Therefore that tongue which is silent to its Makers praise, and declareth not the Goodness, and Wisdom, and power of the Lord, and doth not divulge the notice of his benefits,