A27016:289
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.
and that thinkest the most diligent labour for salvation to be but more ado then needs, and hast not thy self yet resolvedly set upon a holy life, I require at thy hands so much impartiality and faithfulness to thy own immortal soul, as seriously to peruse these following Questions, and to go no further in thy careless, negligent, ungodly course, till thou art able to give such a rational answer to them, as thou darest stand to now at the Barr of thine own Conscience, and hereafter at the Barr of Christ.
Quest. 1. Canst thou possibly give God more then is his due? Or love him more then he deserveth? Or serve him more faithfully then th•• art bound, and he is worthy of? Art thou not his creature? made of nothing? and hast thou not all that thou art and hast from him? and if thou give him all, dost thou give him any more then what is his own? If thou give him all the affections of thy ⟨p. 71⟩soul, and all the most serious thoughts of thy heart, and every hour of thy time, and every word of thy mouth, and every penny of thy wealth (in the way that he requireth it) is it any more then is his due? Should not he have all that is Lord of all?
Quest. 2. Is it not the first and great Commandment. [Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and might?] And do not heathens confess this by the light of nature: And hath not thy tongue confessed it many a time? And doth not thy conscience yet bear witness that it is thy duty? And is it possible thou shouldst thus Love him, with all thy heart, and soul, and might, and yet not seek and serve him with all thy heart, and soul, and might? Or can the most sanctified person do any more, if he were perfect?
Quest. 2. Is it not the first and great Commandment. [Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and might?] And do not heathens confess this by the light of nature: And hath not thy tongue confest it many a time? And doth not thy conscience yet bear witness that it is thy duty? And is it possible thou shouldst thus Love him, with all thy heart, and soul, and might, and yet not seek and serve him with all thy heart, and soul, and might? Or can the most sanctified person do any more, if he were perfect?