A27004:683
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.
§. 5. The world is full of allurements to the flesh, and those Mercies which should raise the mind to God, are made the food of this sensuality, and the greatest means to keep it from him.
Sense is irrational, and fasteneth on its object: and when Reason faileth in its office, there we are left like Dogs gnawing upon a Carrion, and in greediness fighting for it with each other; when we have separated the creature from God ⟨p. 116⟩in our minds,1 and so deprived it of its life and beauty, which fitted it for another use. And when every place and state of life hath such baits as these, which hourly are alluring a mind so weakly fortified against them, no wonder if they do prevail.
Sense is irrational, and fastneth on its object: and when Reason faileth in its office, there we are left like Dogs gnawing upon a Carrion, and in greediness fighting for it with each other; when we have separated the creature from God ⟨p. 116⟩in our minds,1 and so deprived it of its life and beauty, which fitted it for another use. And when every place and state of life hath such baits as these, which hourly are allureing a mind so weakly fortifi'd against them, no wonder if they do prevail.
- 1Vir bonus nec cito fieri, nec intelligi potest: Nam ille alter fortasse Phoenix anno quingentesimo nascitur. Nec est mirum, ex intervallo magna generat; mediocria & in turbam nascentia saepe fortuna producit: sed qui sciret quid esset vir bonus, nondum se esse credere, fortasse etiam fieri posse desperaret. Sen. ep. 42. Diogenes said, He found good children at Lacedaemon, but good men no where in all Graece.