A27004:714
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
Part 1 › Chapter 14: That there is a Life of Retribution after this.
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.
That God is the Governor of the World (in a proper sense, by Laws and Moral Government) is proved: And that he is Righteous, is contained in the Perfections of his Nature. To deny either of these is to deny him to be God. That his Laws of Nature have not only Precepts of Duty, but sanctions of Reward and Punishment, is also proved: And further may be thus. 1. If there be no Rewards or Punishments, there is no Judgement or Execution: But there is Judgement and Execution: for they are parts of Government. Ergo — ⟨p. 121⟩2. Without Rewards and Punishments,1 Precepts would be vain to such as us, and uneffectual as to their ends. But God hath not made his Laws in vain,—Ergo.
That God is the Governour of the World (in a proper sense, by Laws and Moral Government) is proved: And that he is Righteous, is contained in the Perfections of his Nature. To deny either of these is to deny him to be God. That his Laws of Nature have not only Precepts of Duty, but sanctions of Reward and Punishment, is also proved: And further may be thus. 1. If there be no Rewards or Punishments, there is no Judgement or Execution: But there is Judgement and Execution: for they are parts of Government. Ergo — ⟨p. 121⟩2. Without Rewards and Punishments,1 Precepts would be vain to such as us, and uneffectual as to their ends. But God hath not made his Laws in vain,—Ergo.
- 1Improbo bene esse non potest. Cicero Par. Impii apud inferos poenas luunt. Cicero Philict. 1. de Legib. Impiis apud inferos sunt poenae praeparatae. Cicer. 1. de invent.
Obj. Governors use not to give men Rewards for their Obedience: subjects must obey without Reward.