Baxter - BT767 B28 1662

.t 44 A Sttlnt or a Brute: Part H. ·Po.tential, EjficM;OUJ operMions, but c?nclude~ Nete.Jlity of~fondGovernment. I know a felf-concetted Popt!h Intidel hath en– deavoureu to perfwade the world, that Gods · Soveraignry and Moral Governm~nt are Metaphorical expr.effions, arifing from the mifconceivings of weak men; and chat Wifer men like him– felf do conceive ofGods Government only as of an Artificers . difpofa-1 of his works, that Phyfically accornplilheth all his Will, As if Gods Natural Caufations,and his Moral were incon· fifient; ~r as i~ G?d were not Wife and Good as well as A_lmigh· ty 1 or dtd not m h1s Government of m11n demonflrate h1s (api· ence in his Laws, and his Gsodnefs in Attractive Benefits, as well as his Power in meer Natural Motion ! Or as if man were not a Rational Creature, and a free-agent} and were not to be go– verned acwrding to his Nature, by Ob jeers fuited to his Intel– leCt: and Will : but mufl: be ufecl and ruled like a fl:one, or beafl: l Or as if God could not infallibly attain his Ends by aSapienti{ll Government, and by preferving the liberty of the Will, as well as by ameerNeceffitating caufation1This man wasfo enamoured upon his fuppofed skill in Phyficks and Metap.hy(icks, that he not only loft his Morality, but grew eo be fuch an Enemy eo it:, as to blot out all true Morality, Civiliry, Policy, Oeconomy at a dafh ; ancl fiands with the reil: of rhe Proud fraternity, as a Mon1.1mem of Gods jofl:ice againfi the Proud, fo deplorately for– faken even in the Reafon that he glorieth of, that children may perceive his folly. He that is all for Operations of Power, as excluding Sapiential Government by Laws. and their jufl: execl:l– tions, doth think fure that a horfe ha.th more of the Image of God then a man : For he is much £honger. Bmitifh force wquld be more excellent then the Attracrion of Goodnefs and the Condud: of\Vifdom, if the Government (which is no Govern. ment) thattthefe men dreamof, were the mofl: excellent. As he will allowhis~rti.ficer to fhew as much at leafl: of his wit, by making aWatch or Clock that fhall, though by a neeeffi_[y, move without the finger of the workman continually moving tt; fo methinks he fhould allow the Infinitely Wife and Gracious God, to be nevertbelefs Wife or Gracious, if he Rule the Ra~ tional-free~2gem. without a fon:ible Phyfical Neceffitation, by a Graciou~ Attracrion and Sapiential Condud:, agreeable to the Reafon and Libeny of the Creature, as long as we exclude not the eo.working of Omnipotcn'y, nor deny the infallibilit~ of - - · --- - · Divme

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