A97353:166
The second part of The nonconformists plea for peace being an account of their…
The second part of The nonconformists plea for peace being an account of their principles about civil and ecclesiastical authority and obedience ... : mostly written many years past, and now published to save our lives and the kingdoms peace, from the false and bloody plotters ... / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Hancock, 1680
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.
9. It is wise and valid reasoning to prove first that it is Gods Law, and thence to infer that it is sufficient and perfect: But it is a foolish Reasoning to being with the more uncertain assumptions, and to argue that It is not perfect, Ergo it is not Gods Laws; or to dream, that to be Gods Law, and to be imperfect are consistent.
10. When we say it is Perfect, we mean only as is said, formaliter and respectively as to the proper end, but not, 1. Materialiter, 2. modaliter, 3. vel finaliter absolute & simpliciter; As if the Angels in Heaven had not, 1. more perfect work prescribed them, 2. and by a more perfect mode of Revelation, 3. or to more perfect immediate ends: But as the sinless Saints in Heaven may be less perfect in positive Holiness than some Angels, and yet as perfectly Innocent and free from all sin; even so Gods Law for the Government of imperfect man on earth, is positively in the foresaid respects less perfect than the Heavenly Laws; and yet as blameless and perfect in its kind as to its proper use and ends.
11. Therefore the Historical method and the repetitions, and the vulgar phrases, and the absence of Philosophical niceties, is part of the perfection, and not of any imperfection of the Laws.