A27016:424
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.
I am willing to stand to the Judgement of any that understand the case, and are impartial. I hope you will consent that we shall take the most competent witnesses and Judge. And if so, 1. You know that the Devil is no competent Judge. It is he that persuadeth you that present delights are the better part, and rather to be chosen then a Holy life. But he is Gods enemy, and therefore no wonder if he speak against him: He is your deadly enemy; and therefore no wonder if he would deceive you: He is cast out of heaven himself, and would not have you possess the room that he hath lost: He is a wicked lying spirit: and therefore is not to be believed. He is a murderer from the beginning, and therefore will not speak for your salvation, Joh. 8. 44. If the Devil be to be believed, then none are wiser then the ungodly sensual worldly men; and none are in a worse condition then those that are despised by the world for Holiness, and that suffer all things for a Life unseen. But the enmity that is planted in your very natures against the Devil, I hope, will help you to confess, that he must not be the Judge.
I am willing to stand to the Judgement of any that understand the case, and are impartial. I hope you will consent that we shall take the most competent witnesses and Judge. And if so, 1. You know that the Devil is no competent Judge. It is he that perswadeth you that present delights are the better part, and rather to be chosen then a Holy life. But he is Gods enemy, and therefore no wonder if he speak against him: He is your deadly enemy; and therefore no wonder if he would deceive you: He is cast out of heaven himself, and would not have you possess the room that he hath lost: He is a wicked lying spirit: and therefore is not to be believed. He is a murderer from the beginning, and therefore will not speak for your salvation, Joh. 8. 44. If the Devil be to be believed, then none are wiser then the ungodly sensual worldly men; and none are in a worse condition then those that are despised by the world for Holiness, and that suffer all things for a Life unseen. But the enmity that is planted in your very natures against the Devil, I hope, will help you to confess, that he must not be the Judge.