A27004:701
The reasons of the Christian religion the first part, of godliness, proving by natural…
The reasons of the Christian religion the first part, of godliness, proving by natural evidence the being of God ... : the second part, of Christianity, proving by evidence supernatural and natural, the certain truth of the Christian belief ... / by Richard Baxter ... ; also an appendix defending the soul's immortality against the Somatists or Epicureans and other pseudo-philosophers.
London: printed by R. White for Fran. Titon, 1667
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.
The more exactly any man shall set himself to obey God,1 the more he crosseth the lusts and carnal Interest of the wicked; and the more he commonly suffereth in the World. So full of malice and prejudice is the World, against such faithful Subjects of God, that they slander them and make them ⟨p. 118⟩seem the most odious sort of men: And so unreasonable are they and unjust, that the fullest evidence for their Justification, doth but seem to aggravate their faults; and nothing is so great a Crime as their highest Virtues! Or if their Justification be undeniable they rage the more, because they are hindered from making them suffer as deeply in their Names as in their Bodies. These things are no more questionable than the Wars of Alexander or Caesar, the World having longer proof and fuller evidence of them.
The more exactly any man shall set himself to obey God,1 the more he crosseth the lusts and carnal Interest of the wicked; and the more he commonly suffereth in the World. So full of malice and prejudice is the World, against such faithfull Subjects of God, that they slander them and make them ⟨p. 118⟩seem the most odious sort of men: And so unreasonable are they and unjust, that the fullest evidence for their Justification, doth but seem to aggravate their faults; and nothing is so great a Crime as their highest Virtues! Or if their Justification be undenyable they rage the more, because they are hindered from making them suffer as deeply in their Names as in their Bodies. These things are no more questionable than the Warrs of Alexander or Caesar, the World having longer proof and fuller evidence of them.
- 1Seneca Epist. 87. scribit, Tam necessarium fuisse Romano populo nasci Catonem quam Scipionem: Alter enim cum hostibus nostris, alter cum moribus, bellum gessit. And if a Cato was at war with the manners of the World, much more will a true Saint, that is more fully acquainted with Sacred Verity.Seneca Epist. 87. scribit, Tam necessarium fuisse Romano populo nasci Catonem quam Scipionem: Alter enim cum hostibus nostris, alter cum moribus, bellum gessit. And if a Cato was at warre with the manners of the World, much more will a true Saint, that is more fully acquainted with Sacred Verity.