A26965:904
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things…
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacify such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacifie such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Benj. Alsop, 1679
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.
Mr. Rich. Hollingworth in a late Plea for the Church of England, vehemently urging the execution of the Laws against Nonconformists, saith Page 71. [1. Thereby (by Perjury) the conscience of the Minister is debauched, and he thereby made very unfit to give those instructions, and wholesome counsel to the people that otherwise he might do: For all wilful sins, especially such a Notorious one as Perjury, hardens a mans mind, and divests him, till repented of, of all the necessary and useful influences and assistances of Gods good spirit, and maketh him careless, as of his own, so of the souls of others: And a man so easily ensnared by such a sin, is easily induced by any temptation to a neglect of those duties which his Office calls for, and a remiss performance of those Ordinances which were designed and commanded on purpose to reform and instruct the people.
Mr. Rich. Hollingworth in a late Plea for the Church of England, vehemently urging the execution of the Laws against Nonconformists, saith Page 71. [1. Thereby (by Perjury) the conscience of the Minister is debauched, and he thereby made very unfit to give those instructions, and wholsom counsel to the people that otherwise he might do: For all wilful sins, especially such a Notorious one as Perjury, hardens a mans mind, and divests him, till repented of, of all the necessary and useful influences and assistances of Gods good spirit, and maketh him careless, as of his own, so of the souls of others: And a man so easily ensnared by such a sin, is easily induced by any temptation to a neglect of those duties which his Office calls for, and a remiss performance of those Ordinances which were designed and commanded on purpose to reform and instruct the people.
And page 73. [They must be accountable at the last day, not only for their own sin, but for that very sin of Perjury, which the vicious Priest is guilty of: For he that inviteth a man to a sin, is reckoned as if he had committed the sin himself.]