A26871:94
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.
And he that hateth men or opposeth them, for any one of all these duties, (for reading or hearing Gods Word, for praying for things promised, for holy Conference and Meditation, for sanctifying the Lords day, for desiring a Shepherd and not a Wolf; for abhorring profaneness, and other great sins) doth thereby declare that it is so much of Godliness or Obedience which he abhorreth; and it is through Ignorance doubtless if he seriously love and practise the rest of Gods Commands.
And he that hateth men or opposeth them, for any one of all these duties, (for reading or hearing Gods Word, for praying for things promised, for holy Conference and Meditation, for sanctifying the Lords day, for desiring a Shepherd and not a Wolf; for abhorring prophaneness, and other great sins) doth thereby declare that it is so much of Godliness or Obedience which he abhorreth; and it is through Ignorance doubtless if he seriously love and practise the rest of Gods Commands.
§ 7. II. By Malignant Enemies of Godliness, 1. I do not mean every one that hath any backwardness to any duty, which he overcometh in the practice: Nor every one that is guilty of some omissions: The spirit is willing, and the flesh is weak.
§ 8. 2. I mean not those that are Godly in the main so far as they can know, but through education or otherwise are ignorant of some Integral Truths or Duties, and have an opposing contentious Zeal against them by mistake; and by factious company are taught therefore to speak evil falsely of those from whom they differ. I hear some revile all even with terms of enmity and unchristian threatenings, yea seeking their ruin, who do not swear, say and practise all that is required to English Conformity. I do not conclude them therefore Malignant Enemies of Godliness, if they live soberly, righteously and godlily in their way, and prefer God before Men, Heaven before Earth, the Soul before the Body, and a Holy life before the pleasures and profits of the flesh. If they are uncharitable against all that are not for Diocesans, Lay-Chancellors Excommunications, Symbolical Crossing of Children as a Covenanting sign of Christianity, and all the rest; I wish them more Charity, but I call them not Malignant Enemies.