A26871:126
Cain and Abel malignity that is, enmity to serious godliness, that is, to an…
Cain and Abel malignity that is, enmity to serious godliness, that is, to an holy and heavenly state of heart and life : lamented, described, detected, and unanswerably [sic] proved to be the devilish nature, and the militia of the devil against God and Christ and the church and kingdoms, and the surest sign of a state of damnation / by Richard Baxter, or, Gildas Salvianus ...Cain and Abel malignity that is, enmity to serious godliness, that is, to an holy and heavenly state of heart and life : lamented, described, detected, and unananswerably [sic] proved to be the devilish nature, and the militia of the devil against God and Christ and the church and kingdoms, and the surest sign of a state of damnation / by Richard Baxter, or, Gildas Salvianus ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1689
Chapter 2: Whom I mean by Godly Persons, and whom by Malignant Enemies to Godliness.
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.
When the blindness and ungodliness of corrupted Nature, increased by practice into Serpentine Enmity, and turning mens hearts by unbelief and disaffection from God and Heaven, doth possess them with a deep dislike of a holy, heavenly and spiritual life; first as to their own practices, and then as it is in others; and because it is against their worldly hopes and fleshly lusts, they hate it, and reject it themselves, and then hate and maliciously oppose it in others; yea though Law, Custom, and worldly Interest draw them formally to profess Christianity and Obedience to Gods Laws, and to Vow that in Baptism, they hate the serious performance of ⟨p. 64⟩their own Profession and Vows; and would be glad to drive it out of the world, and to set up Hypocrisy and Ceremony, or a Stage Religion and Mummery, or the toothless Mass and Formalities in its stead: And if custom or shame hinder them from persecuting or scorning Truth and Godliness in its proper name, they will show their mind by these things following.
When the blindness and ungodliness of corrupted Nature, increased by practice into Serpentine Enmity, and turning mens hearts by unbelief and disaffection from God and Heaven, doth possess them with a deep dislike of a holy, heavenly and spiritual life; first as to their own practices, and then as it is in others; and because it is against their worldly hopes and fleshly lusts, they hate it, and reject it themselves, and then hate and maliciously oppose it in others; yea though Law, Custom, and worldly Interest draw them formally to profess Christianity and Obedience to Gods Laws, and to Vow that in Baptism, they hate the serious performance of ⟨p. 64⟩their own Profession and Vows; and would be glad to drive it out of the world, and to set up Hypocrisie and Ceremony, or a Stage Religion and Mummery, or the toothless Mass and Formalities in its stead: And if custom or shame hinder them from persecuting or scorning Truth and Godliness in its proper name, they will shew their mind by these things following.