A26888:494
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.
If he see an honest Christian zealously affected, dra• him by Temptation of the Flesh into some Scandal, or by Ignorance into some false Opinions, and that Glory of all his Zeal is presently turned into Reproach. If he do but fail out with some of his Neighbours, and by Passion, or for Worldly Interest, offend them, all his Piety goeth not only for Hypocrisy, but for a ⟨p. 242⟩Reproach to Piety it self. Yea, if they fall but into Melancholy, and Impatience, and Discontent, the Devil sets them to affright Men from Religion, as we set up Mawkins in our Corn and Orchards, to affright the Birds.
If he see an honest Christian zealously affected, dra• him by Temptation of the Flesh into some Scandal, or by Ignorance into some false Opinions, and that Glory of all his Zeal is presently turned into Reproach. If he do but fail out with some of his Neighbours, and by Passion, or for Worldly Interest, offend them, all his Piety goeth not only for Hypocrisie, but for a ⟨p. 242⟩Reproach to Piety it self. Yea, if they fall but into Melancholy, and Impatience, and Discontent, the Devil sets them to affright Men from Religion, as we set up Mawkins in our Corn and Orchards, to affright the Birds.
The sad Bewdley-Story, before related, is an Instance that was sad to me. The African Story, before-mentioned, is more tremendous; of the Bishops whose Tongues were cut out by Hunnerichus the Arian King's Command, and they spake well when their Tongues were cut out: Victor Uticensis, Gazaeus and Procopius, that all then lived, witness it; and some, if not all of them, I remember, say, that they saw and heard them: And yet (say some of them) the Devil after overcame some of these same Bishops to commit Fornication with Women, and then the Miracle ceased, and they could speak no more.