A27004:910
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.
§. 14. Sin doth unquestionably deserve a natural death and annihilation.
This all men grant that believe that God is our Governor, and that there is any such thing as His Laws, and Man's sins. If treason against a King deserve death,1 much more rebellion and sin against God. Life and being is God's free gift: if he take it away from the innocent, he taketh but his own: therefore there can be no doubt but he may take it away from the guilty who abuse it.
This all men grant that believe that God is our Governour, and that there is any such thing as His Laws, and Man's sins. If treason against a King deserve death,1 much more rebellion and sin against God. Life and being is God's free gift: if he take it away from the innocent, he taketh but his own: therefore there can be no doubt but he may take it away from the guilty who abuse it.
- 1Animas verò ex hac vita cum delictorum sordibus recedentes, aequandas his qui in abruptum ex alto praecipitique delapsi sunt, unde nunquam sit facultas resurgendi. Ideo utendum est concessis vitae spatiis, ut sit perfectae purgationis major facultas: Macrob. de Somn. Scip. l. 1. c. 13.
§. 15. If such a penalty were inflicted, God is not bound to restore that sinner to being again whom he hath annihilated, (if it be not a contradiction): And then this penal Privation would be everlasting: Therefore an endless Privation of Being and all mercies is the sinners due.