A27016:1065
A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…
A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ... / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by R.W. for Francis Tyton, 1662
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Even so, if you cannot overcome your inward doubts, and fears, and sorrows, as you desire, yet let them not be fruitful, nor cause you to walk so dejectedly before the world, as to dishonour God and your holy profession: And if you have not the inward comfort you desire, express your desires, and the hopes and smallest comforts that you have, to the best advantage for your Masters honour: And you will find that a holy cheerfulness of countenance, expression and deportment, will at last much overcome your inordinate disquietments, and much promote the joys which you desire. But yet that you may see cause for the cheerfulness to which I now exhort you, I next add.
Even so, if you cannot overcome your inward doubts, and fears, and sorrows, as you desire, yet let them not be fruitful, nor cause you to walk so dejectedly before the world, as to dishonour God and your holy profession: And if you have not the inward comfort you desire, express your desires, and the hopes and smallest comforts that you have, to the best advantage for your Masters honour: And you will find that a holy chearfulness of countenance, expression and deportment, will at last much overcome your inordinate disquietments, and much promote the joyes which you desire. But yet that you may see cause for the cheerfulness to which I now exhort you, I next adde.
3. If thou have but one spark of saving grace, it is not possible for thee now to conceive or express the happiness of thy state, and the cause thou hast to live a thankful joyous life. If thou have no grace, thou art not the person that I am now speaking to. If thou have no grace, whence is it that thou so much desirest it? What is it that causeth thee to lament the want of it, and walk so heavily, but because thou art so much in doubt of it? If thou truly Love it, thou hast it, (for it is only grace that causeth an unfeigned Love of grace). And if thou love it not, why canst not thou more quietly be without it? Why dost thou make so much ado for it? But if thou have it in the least degree, and so art born again of the spirit, thou hast with it an unspeakable treasure of delights: The God of Life and Love is thine: The ⟨p. 362⟩