A27004:659
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.
If it be so good to love God, then must the highest degree of it be best: and reason teacheth us,1 when we feel how weak our Knowledge and Love is, to long for more; yea, for perfection.
- 1Read Seneca, de vita beata, fully proving against the Epicureans, that wealth, honour and pleasure are not mans felicity, because they make him not better or best.Read Seneca, de vita beata, fully proving against the Ep•cureans, that wealth, honour and pleasure are not mans felicity, because they make him not better or best.
§. 43. Thus hath Reason showed us the end and highest felicity of man, in his highest duty; To Know God, to Love him and Delight in him in the fullest Perfection, and to be Loved by him, and be fully pleasing to him, as herein bearing his Image, is the felicity, and the ultimate end of man. LOVE is mans final act, excited by the fullest Knowledge, and God so beheld and enjoyed in his Love to us, is the final Object. And here the Soul must seek its Rest.
§. 43. Thus hath Reason shewed us the end and highest felicity of man, in his highest duty; To Know God, to Love him and Delight in him in the fullest Perfection, and to be Loved by him, and be fully pleasing to him, as herein bearing his Image, is the felicity, and the ultimate end of man. LOVE is mans final act, excited by the fullest Knowledge, and God so beheld and enjoyed in his Love to us, is the final Object. And here the Soul must seek its Rest.
Obj. But quae supra nos nihil ad nos: God indeed is near to Angels, but he hath made them our Benefactors, and they have committed it to inferior Causes: there must be suitableness as well as excellency to win love: