A27016:374
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.
This inward difference of Inclinations is the true cause of the difference of the judgements and the courses of men, about the matters of God and their salvation.
This is it that makes so many to think none wise but those that are more dangerously mad then men in Bedlam; and that makes so many others stand in doubt as men unresolved what to choose, and what course to follow: As if it were really a difficult point for a man to be resolved in, Whether it be best and wisest to follow the teachings of God, or of the flesh: and to seek first the Kingdom and Righteousness of God, or to make a pother for nothing in the world; and to claw this itching flesh a while, though they must smart for it for ever, or to master the flesh and live to God!
This is it that makes so many to think none wise but those that are more dangerously mad then men in Bedlam; and that makes so many others stand in doubt as men unresolved what to choose, and what course to follow: As if it were really a difficult point for a man to be resolved in, Whether it be best and wisest to follow the teachings of God, or of the flesh: and to seek first the Kingdom and Righteousness of God, or to make a pudder for nothing in the world; and to claw this itching flesh a while, though they must smart for it for ever, or to master the flesh and live to God!
In a word, the world are half unresolved, [whether it be better to be Holy with Gods promise of Eternal Glory, or to take the Pleasures of sin for a season, and neglect this Holiness, though this course be threatened by the Living God with Everlasting torments?] This is the true state of the Question, which I say one part of the world doth seem to be unresolved in, and another part are resolved on the worser side, against their souls and a Holy life; and only those that the illuminating sanctifying spirit hath resolved, do choose the needful better part.