A27004:803
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.
Obj. But even here we have a higher kind of work and pleasure than the Brutes: we rule them, and they serve us: we dwell in Cities, and Societies, and make provision for the time to come.
Obj. But even here we have a higher kind of work and pleasure than the Bruits: we rule them, and they serve us: we dwell in Cities, and Societies, and make provision for the time to come.
Answ. Those Brutes that dwell in Woods and Deserts serve us not: and our ruling them is a small addition to our felicity: Pride it self can take little pleasure in being the Master of Dogs and Cats. Rule doth but add to care and trouble: caeteris paribus, it is an easier life to be ruled than to rule. And if we take away their lives, it is no more than we must undergo our selves: and the violent death which we put them too hath usually less pain, than our languishing age, and sickness, and natural death. And it is as pleasant to a Bird to dwell in her nest, as to us to dwell in Cities and Palaces; and they sing as merrily in their way of converse, as we in our troublesome Kingdoms and Societies: If present pleasure be the highest of our hopes, they seem to have as much as we; or if there be any difference, it is counter-balanced by the twenty-fold more cares, and fears, and labours, and mental ⟨p. 144⟩troubles which we are more liable to.1 And our knowledge doth but increase our sorrow, (of which next.)
Answ. Those Bruits that dwell in Woods and Desarts serve us not: and our ruling them is a small addition to our felicity: Pride it self can take little pleasure in being the Master of Dogs and Cats. Rule doth but adde to care and trouble: caeteris paribus, it is an easier life to be ruled than to rule. And if we take away their lives, it is no more than we must undergo our selves: and the violent death which we put them too hath usually less pain, than our languishing age, and sickness, and natural death. And it is as pleasant to a Bird to dwell in her nest, as to us to dwell in Cities and Palaces; and they sing as merrily in their way of converse, as we in our troublesome Kingdoms and Societies: If present pleasure be the highest of our hopes, they seem to have as much as we; or if there be any difference, it is counter-ballanced by the twenty-fold more cares, and fears, and labours, and mental