A26975:413
Of national churches their description, institution, use, preservation, danger, maladies and cure, partly applied…
Of national churches their description, institution, use, preservation, danger, maladies and cure, partly applied to England / written by Richard Baxter for promoting peace ... and for the fuller explication of the Treaty for Concord in 1660 and 1661, and of the Kings gracious declaration about ecclesiastical affairs ... and for further explication of his treatise of episcopacy ...
London: printed by T. Snowden for Thomas Parkhurst, 1691
Chapter 13: What are the dangerous Diseases of a National Church.
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.
§ 8. If Ministers be Ignorant, or unskilful in their public Work, they will be despised. If they be Worldly and Covetous the Poor will reproach them. If they be Drunkards, Gluttons, Unclean, Idle, or any way Sensual, they will become the common Scorn: But if they be Enemies to serious Godliness, or Revilers, or Persecutors of Godly Men, the wicked will be encouraged to be like them and hardened in their Sin; but Pious and Sober men will abhor them as the Servants of Satan, though they will not therefore cast off their Honour to the true Ministerial Office and Work.
§ 8. If Ministers be Ignorant, or unskilful in their publick Work, they will be despised. If they be Worldly and Covetous the Poor will reproach them. If they be Drunkards, Gluttons, Unclean, Idle, or any way Sensual, they will become the common Scorn: But if they be Enemies to serious Godliness, or Revilers, or Persecutors of Godly Men, the wicked will be encouraged to be like them and hardned in their Sin; but Pious and Sober men will abhor them as the Servants of Satan, though they will not therefore cast off their Honour to the true Ministerial Office and Work.
It is not an Honourable Office, or a Reverend Garb, and Name and Title, that will hide the shame of Ignorance, Ungodliness, Sensuality or Malignity. Their White Clothing and Sacred Titles, which render their filthiness more visible and ⟨p. 56⟩odious. Bad Men will prove a greater injury to Sacred Offices, than open Enemies. And it is not the Holiness of the Office, or the Goodness of Laws and Order, that will serve to Reform or make Happy a Church or Nation, in the hands of wicked Men.
It is not an Honourable Office, or a Reverend Garb, and Name and Title, that will hide the shame of Ignorance, Ungodliness, Sensuality or Malignity. Their White Cloathing and Sacred Titles, which render their filthiness more visible and ⟨p. 56⟩odious. Bad Men will prove a greater injury to Sacred Offices, than open Enemies. And it is not the Holiness of the Office, or the Goodness of Laws and Order, that will serve to Reform or make Happy a Church or Nation, in the hands of wicked Men.