A27016:120
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.
No one therefore from this determination of Christ to Martha, is to be driven from their lawful Calling into a contrary extreme. But this was not the case between Mary and Martha: It was a special opportunity which then was to be taken: We must first seek Gods kingdom, and its righteousness: and prudently take such opportunities for our souls as we can, without omitting greater duties, and as our case requireth: not taking as much food as we can ingest, but as much as we can digest: It is possible to eat too much, but not to digest too well. A Christian must have prudence, when two duties come together, to know which at that present time is the greatest, and to be preferred: which dependeth much on the necessity, and the ends: the good that will follow the doing of them, and the hurt that will follow the omission: And without this prudential discerning of time and duty, we shall never order our conversations aright, but shall live in a continual sin, when we are doing that, which in its own nature and season is our duty.
No one therefore from this determination of Christ to Martha, is to be driven from their lawfull Calling into a contrary extream. But this was not the case between Mary and Martha: It was a special opportunity which then was to be taken: We must first seek Gods kingdom, and its righteousness: and prudently take such opportunities for our souls as we can, without omitting greater duties, and as our case requireth: not taking as much food as we can ingest, but as much as we can digest: It is possible to eat too much, but not to digest too well. A Christian must have prudence, when two duties come together, to know which at that present time is the greatest, and to be preferred: which dependeth much on the necessity, and the ends: the good that will follow the doing of them, and the hurt that will follow the omission: And without this prudential discerning of time and duty, we shall never order our conversations aright, but shall live in a continual sin, when we are doing that, which in its own nature and season is our duty.
A poor man may not Read and Hear so frequently as a Rich (ordinarily,) nor a Servant as the Master; because there would greater evils follow the omission of their common labour at that time.