A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

10. But you will say, that the Reason of your distaste against these that are so forward in Religion is, that they are inwardly •• bad as others, and as proud and worldly; and why do they not excel others in good works, as much as they do in their de•• tions?

10. But you will say, that the Reason of your distaste against these that are so forward in Religion is, that they are inwardly •• bad as others, and as proud and worldly; and why do they not excell others in good works, as much as they do in their de•• tions?

Answ. 1. So they do, according to their ability: Twenty years trial and more I have had of them since I was a Minister of Christ; and I can truly say, that ordinarily I have known of many a shilling, if not pounds, that have come from the purses of these that you call Puritans and precise, for one groat or penny that I have known come from most others about me of their rank, to any pious and charitable use. But all that are godly, a•• not rich: and though Christ extolleth the widows two mites, the standers by regarded them not: Matth. 12. 42. 43. 2 Cor. 8. 12. [If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.] And he that hath said, [Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven, Matth. 6. 1.] hath hereby kept his servants from making the world acquainted with much of their deeds of charity: And for the sins of the heart that you charge them with, they […] known to none but God, unless they be discovered in their lives. But malice in all ages hath been used to such unproved slanders of the servants of the Lord.