A97353:269
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.
41. Quest. But it is supposed that he cannot change his judgement. What then must he do? Answ. Were it through ⟨p. 42⟩a natural inculpable impotency and impossibility, the Law would not oblige him, and so there would be no Law and no transgression: But that which we speak of is a moral Impotenc[…], through the vicious blindness of the mind, and corruption of the will; and God will not change his Laws, because men are sinfully indisposed to obey them: When you have questioned to the utmost, the double obligation still remaineth: And so you must be answered.
41. Quest. But it is supposed that he cannot change his judgement. What then must he do? Answ. Were it through ⟨p. 42⟩a natural inculpable impotency and impossibility, the Law would not oblige him, and so there would be no Law and no transgression: But that which we speak of is a moral Impotenc〈…〉, through the vicious blindness of the mind, and corruption of the will; and God will not change his Laws, because men are sinfully indisposed to obey them: When you have questioned to the utmost, the double obligation still remaineth: And so you must be answered.
42. But what order here must we observe; must we not change our judgement before we can obey? Answ. The obligations to both are both at once; But because an undiscerned command cannot be obeyed, the order of natural necessity, is, that you first rectify your judgement, and then obey the other commands.
42. But what order here must we observe; must we not change our judgement before we can obey? Answ. The obligations to both are both at once; But because an undiscerned command cannot be obeyed, the order of natural necessity, is, that you first rectifie your judgement, and then obey the other commands.