Baxter - BT767 B28 1662

Part Il~ j ~s~int ,,, -;,Brat{}>~ !57 Aword or two to the objeCtions of a .MMk..ed Infidel of this Countrey, Clem. Writer. . . . Saith he, Mm be not commanded to helwve thefe Statutes onptu11 Of).amnatien: Tb.erefor:e the cafe is not lik§. . ·Anfw.But men are commanded tp obey them upon pain of~eath; . and believing is prerequifite ro obeying: t~er~fore the .cafe xs ltke,. D~ath is the utmoft pepalty that man can tn'fhct : or 1f there be gr~atcr,. it alhruns on the fame foundation: And fure that ev~dence that proves menculpable for b.rraking mam La:~s, muil: p~ove him .culpable .for breaking Gods. You ~ave no other ejes to-read the L11ws of .God, then thofe by wluch you read mans Litwn And doth it follow that God muft not coHdemn you for breaking hislaws,when men do but hangyou for breaking theirs? ,Sure GodsLaws and mans may be printed in the fame Character, and rtl'ta with t~e fame eyes, and both have the fame Natural meam of delivery)· and yet the fin and punifhment differ as the Authority cloth~ Objection. But ( faith he ) Can tht Miracles confirm the Scripture, when it is the Scripture that reports the Mira.,.. cleJ? .A~fw. I. Cannot a Statute tell you what Parliament made ir; and what matters of fact were tlie occafion ,. and alfo what fhalr beyour duty upon pain of death? fo that the Mak.!rs andfaCl~ filall give force unto rhe Lt~w, and yet the Law reveal the makps and j118s ?' Do not Church Canftitutions do the fame ? The Scripture hath two parts : the Hiftory and the,· Doilrine. May not the Hiflory confirm theaoElrinc; and th~& do..,.. Brine oblige us to our dr.uy? 2. But you fuppofe that rhe Mirades an~ ~ fach can only be. known by a Di:J.~ine brlief of the Hi(fory ? But that is falfe. The common Evidence that all Statutes, Hiilories~ and Actions in the. world have to make them certain to pofierity ~ .. (as Cicer.o's or, Yirgils Vlritings, or ' Ctejars Reign, &c.) .the fame have the, Books and Miracles of Scriptnre to us., And ,by the(e we can.. know them de f aRo to be fuch, before we believe them by a_ Divine faith. And as the Scripture. is a Hift~ry thilt hath the f~e Evidence as the befr of Hifloriu. have, fo it may concun Wtth abundance of other Evidence (which I have recited in my. n:Y Determination againft Infidelity, and in my Kty for {atho~ hckJ~) to prove the Fa[Js.: ~n.d th~n ~ll9fe FaCl! will fully prov¥ . tb.@, • . ~ .. ~.

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