A26871:31
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 1: A Lamentation for the case of the Deluded, Malignant, Militant World.
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.
But we have Priests too many, that will say, Take every Oath, Promise or Ceremony required of you, or preach not, nor worship God openly at all: Take me for your Pastor, or you shall have none: Hear me, or hear no man: Receive the Communion from me, or from none: Deny not the lawfulness of a Ceremony, or be Excommunicate.
§ 4. And is it now any wonder that the people say as they are taught? And these are lessons easilier learnt than a Catechism, or the Creed, or the meaning of Baptism. How quickly can a man learn to call his Neighbour Whig, or Tory! Or to hate a Godly man, or in a Tavern or Ale-house to scorn them, or drink and curse to their confusion, and to say, I hope to see them all hanged or banished out of the Land: As a Priest that knows not what Divinity or the Priestly Office is, may before he taketh many degrees, attain the ability learnedly to call his Godly Neighbours, Schismatics, or Hypocrites or worse; So no doubt a few such Sermons, if not a Tavern, can quickly teach them that never knew what Religion is, yea that can scarce speak sense, to revile the wisest and best men, as if they were sinners against the ⟨p. 12⟩true Religion, if they will be serious in any true Religion at all.
§ 4. And is it now any wonder that the people say as they are taught? And these are lessons easilier learnt than a Catechism, or the Creed, or the meaning of Baptism. How quickly can a man learn to call his Neighbour Whig, or Tory! Or to hate a Godly man, or in a Tavern or Ale-house to scorn them, or drink and curse to their confusion, and to say, I hope to see them all hang'd or banished out of the Land: As a Priest that knows not what Divinity or the Priestly Office is, may before he taketh many degrees, attain the ability learnedly to call his Godly Neighbours, Schismaticks, or Hypocrites or worse; So no doubt a few such Sermons, if not a Tavern, can quickly teach them that never knew what Religion is, yea that can scarce speak sense, to revile the wisest and best men, as if they were sinners against the ⟨p. 12⟩