A39678:111
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native country, and the souls of men.The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native countrey, and the souls of men.
London: printed for Thomas Cockerill, 1691
THE REASONABLENESS OF Personal Reformation, › Chapter 2 › Section 4
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.
SECT. IV.
And First, I take it for granted, that no Man's Reason will deny or demur to this Proposition, That Good is to be chosen, and Evil to be avoided. For the will is naturally carried to that which is good, as to its proper Object, and shuns that which is Evil. And that is naturally good which ⟨p. 23⟩is convenient, and agreeable to Nature; and that naturally Evil which is disconvenient and hurtful to Nature. So that the choice of Good rather than Evil, is the natural choice of the Will; and this choice of the Will is founded upon the Law of Self-preservation, without which the Creation would quickly disband, and no particular being could be long preserved.
And not only the Will of rational Creatures chooseth the Good, and refuseth the Evil; but every sensitive Creature is endowed with a natural Faculty to discern the one from the other in order to the preservation of their beings. You find it in the smallest and most despicable Animals, and therefore cannot deny it unto Man, the noblest and most excellent Being on Earth, except only in his Non-age, before he hath lived to the years of Discretion. Children indeed in their Infancy have no knowledge to discern between Good and Evil, Deut. 1. 39. But Men not discerning Good from Evil, or choosing Evil rather than Good, are many degrees beneath Babes.