A26888:489
The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls…
The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls of the malice and misery of the devils and the damned : and of the blessedness of the justified, fully evinced by the unquestionable histories of apparitions, operations, witchcrafts, voices &c. / written, as an addition to many other treatises for the conviction of Sadducees and infidels, by Richard Baxter.The certainty of the worlds of spirits and, consequently, of the immortality of souls of the malice and misery of the devils and the damned : and of the blessedness of the justified, fully evinced by the unquestionable histories of apparitions, operations, witchcrafts, voices &c. / written, as an addition to many other treatises for the conviction of Sadduces and infidels, by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for T. Parkhurst, 1691
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 though Demons do good in order to do hurt, yet, by this Rule of Judging of Spirits by their Fruits, I cannot but think that (though there was a Mixture of Good and Bad) there was more of the good Spirit, than of the Bad, in most of the ancient Monks and Hermits, that lived so strict and mortified Lives. And, as I find, not only by Erasmus, but by the Complaint of Protestant Divines, that it was a Desire of Liberty from the Papists Austerities, that prevailed with most of the Vulgar to cast off Popery; so the Case of many Monasteries, their Mortification and Devotion, (though ignorant,) doth make me hope that ⟨p. 240⟩in many such Monasteries there is more of the Spirit of God, than among the common worldly, sensual sort of Protestants. I that must say so of our well-meaning Separatists here, must say so of such Papists: For I find by the multitude of Instances in Caesarius and others, that just as deep Repentance for former Sin, doth now bring many to think it safest to join with the Congregations, which they think are most strict: So before Luther's time, it was ordinary, when God humbled any deeply for their Sin, to think that they must presently join with such as renounced the World and fleshly Pleasures, and minded nothing but Religion and Salvation. And thence it came to pass, that among the Papists, the Monastics were called Religious, in distinction from Secular, and other sorts of Men. And as our separating religious Protestants do now demand of such as they admit to their Communion, an Account of some special Experiences of God's Work on their Hearts, in their Conversion: So did the Monasteries by such as they received. The aforesaid Author Caesarius will tell you of multitudes of Instances how God converted Sinners, and brought them into their Religious Houses.
And though Demons do good in order to do hurt, yet, by this Rule of Judging of Spirits by their Fruits, I cannot but think that (though there was a Mixture of Good and Bad) there was more of the good Spirit, than of the Bad, in most of the ancient Monks and Hermites, that lived so strict and mortified Lives. And, as I find, not only by Erasmus, but by the Complaint of Protestant Divines, that it was a Desire of Liberty from the Papists Austerities, that prevailed with most of the Vulgar to cast off Popery; so the Case of many Monasteries, their Mortification and Devotion, (though ignorant,) doth make me hope that ⟨p. 240⟩