Baxter - BJ1441 B3 1673

Popery by de~ing Senfe, denyetb all H11manity 1111d Cer-tainty. Rider to rule him, yet fometimc for his own eafe he willloofe the reins ; and a Horfe that is ufed thuS by a flothflll or unskilfUl Rider, to have his will when ever he {lrivetb, will jh·ive when ever he iS croffed of bi< n>ill; and fo will be rhe Ma!ler. As ill-bred Children that are u(ed to have every thing given them which they cry for, will be fure ~o cry before theywill be croil of their drfitt.. So is j~ with our fenjitive appetite; If ~ouufe ro facishe it when it is eager or importunate you £hall be mJjlcred by its ea.gerntfi and importunity : And if you u{t but to regard it over much, and del~ty your commands till {enft is heard and taken into counfel, its two to one but it will prevail ; or ar lcatl will be very troublefome to you, and prove a traytor in your bofomc, and its temptations keep you in continual danger. Therefore be fure that you ncvenloofe the Tcins, but keep fmfc under a confiant ·govern· rnenr, if you love either your foftty or your eaft. 9· 10. DireCt. 8. Tou may Jtnow whether Stnft, or Faith and Rtll{o1t be the chief in Government, by Dire{1. s: k,.nowing which of their &hjdJs is made your cbiefrft End, and acc,mttd your Brft, and loved, •nd delighted in, and fought accordingly ; If the obj<f1s of fen[e bt thm tab.!n f" your Bej! and ·End, then ctrtainly fcnfe if tbe chi(f in Government : But if the objcf1t of faith and Reafon, even God and life mrnal be tak,.cn for your Bej! and End, then faith and rea[on are the ruling power. Though you !hould ufc never fo great undtrjtanding and policy for flnfoal things, .r as Rich~s, and honour, and worldl}r grearnefs, orficjhly ddights) this doth not prove rhat Rtafon IS the rulmg power; bur proveth the .(i more flrongly rhar{enfe is the Conquerour, and that R'ta{sn lS dc,praved and captivated by it, and trucklcth und.er ir, and ferveth it as a voluntary fiave : And the gnater is your learning, wit and parts, and the nobler your education, the greater is the vidory and domin1on of ftnfo, that can fUbdue, and rule, and fervc it felfby parts fo noble. §. 11· Direel. 9· 1hougb ftnfe muj! be tbm abfolutely ruled, its proper power mi<j/ neither be difabled, D)rt/J• l\• pruhibited, nor denyed. You mu!\ keep your Horfe jlrong and able for hiS works, though not headjlrong and uHruly ! And you mull not keep him from the ufe of his j!rength, though yo" grant him nor rhe Government. Nor will you tleity. but that he may be j!l'ongtr than the Rider, though the Ri· 2er ~avc the rHling p~w~r: He bath more of the power _called. J U1·a_u1,, ·natural po~~r, though the •!;•"• be yours. So IS 11 here, I· No man mull d~lrny hiS bodrly fen[<: The quzc/;!{1 fen[e is the bell fervant to 1he foul, if ir be not headfirong and roo impetuous. The Body mull be llric~en fo far as robe '-'Pt under and ,brougbt into Jubjeaion, r Cor. 9' •7. bur not be difabled from its fervice to rhe foul : •· Nor mull we forbid or forbear the excrcife of rhe ftn[er, in fubordination ro the exercife of the interior fenfes, Heb. 4· r4. It is indeed a fmalltr lofs to part with a right band or a right eye, than with 'OUr falvation : But that proveth not that we are put to fuch fireights, as to be neceffitated to either ( unlcfs per[ccution put us to it ) : 3• Nor mufi we deny the ccr.tainty of the fenfitive appreitenjion, when it keepeth its place; as the Papills do that affirm it neceffaiy to falva~ tion ro believe thar the fib'IJt, and tafte, and fmell, and feeling of all men in the world, that take the Sacrament are certainly deceived, in taking that to be ~rtatl and 1YiNe which is .not fo : for if all the ftnfes of all men though never fo found and ratio»>l, be certainly deceived in this, we know not when they are not deceived, and there can be no certainty of fai~h or k._nowledge: -~or if you fay that the Church telleth us that {fn~c is dcc~v~d !n this, and only in l1his: n~ny ~Ot " 1 anfwer, If tt be not firfi granted that [enfe ( as fo flared) JS ccrtamm tts apprc:henfion, there: is ftnfe witb the no certainty then that there is a Church, or a tnan, ora worJd, or what rhe Church tTCr faid, or Po~pills. any member of ir : And if [<11[< be fo fallihlt, the Ch•rch may be deceived, who by. the ineans of Jinft doth come to all her knowledge. To deny faith is the properry of an Infidel: To deny Rta· {on is to deny Hum.:mify, and is titteH for a mad man, or a Beajl (if withot.u: reafan, reafon could be dcnyed ) : But to deny the certainty of fenfl it felf, and of all the [enfu of all fou•d men, and that about the proper objeliJof[t11{e, this fhcw~th that ambitioN can make a Rcligim, \Vhich tball bring man quite below the Beafis, and inake him a Mufhrome, that Rome may have fubjects ~apable of her Governmenf, and all this under pretenCe of honouring_faith ~ and fa\ring fouls : Making God the defiroytr of nature in order to its pcrfctlion, and the decdvef of nature in order to its .,6 edification. 9. 12. Direct. 10. Scnfl m~tft not be made tbt Judge of matttrllh.a' are ahove it, a f . the jrof,tr ob~ Di.reQ. 1 e; je[is of faith and reafon: ·nor mujt we argue negatively Jtom our fl,t[er in [uch cafir, which God in nature never brought into their Court. We cannot fay, that there is no God, no Heaven, no Hell, no Angels, r.o fouls of men, becau[e we [te them not : We Can~ot fay, 1 fee not the Antipodes, nor or~er Kingdoms of the world; and therefore there is no fuch place : fo we fay a; well as the Papilis, that ftnfe is no Judge wherher the }piritual body of Chrill be prefent in rbe Sacrament, no more rhan .whether an Angel be here prefent : . But fiil]e wirh rea[oH is the Judge whether Bread and Wme be there prcfent, or eij'e humane underfiandrng can judge of nothing; Chrifi would have had 1homa< to have belitvcd without fleing, and ferlilig, and blelferh tho{e that ncirher fee him, nor feel, and yet btlieve ; but he never bleffeth men for belie~ing C()Jt• trary to the jigbt, and [etli11g, and. taj!e of all that hav.~ fo~nd fcnfes and underfiandings in the world. Their mfiance of_ the Vugms conception of Chnft, .1s nothmg co:mrary to this: for it bclongeth uot w finfe to Jlldge whether a Virgin tnay conCeive: Nor will any Wife mans Rea[o,; judge, that the .creator \Yho in .making th~ world of. no~hing_was rhe only caUfe, cannot fupply rh~ place of a partral fecond caufe m Gencrat10n : They mrght more.plaufiblyar~ue withArij!utle againlt the Creation it felf, tha~ ex ~ribilo nihil fit: .but as it is pall dou?t! that the i>ifallibility of Je~fe is no· thmg at all concerned m this,_fo 1t IS fuffictentlyproved by Chnfhans, that God can create without any prc-exifient matter. ·Keafon can fee much further than finft; by the help of fenfl: and yet much' fuithet

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