A27016:588
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.
2. Godliness propoundeth and prosecuteth the most Uniting, Excellent, Powerful End, for all that duty that should advance Societies: and therefore must needs be Best for all Societies. God and Heaven is the common End of all the Godly. They are Agreed every man of them in One End; and so are not others. Their End hath that Power in its attractive Excellency, by which it can do the greatest things that are to be done with the will of man. The Ends of the ungodly are small and childish toye• ▪ Our End also is as the Sun, sufficient for all; and therefore […] matter of contention: All may have God as well as One, without diminishing the happiness of any.
2. Godliness propoundeth and prosecuteth the most Uniting, Excellent, Powerful End, for all that duty that should advance Societies: and therefore must needs be Best for all Societies. God and Heaven is the common End of all the Godly. They are Agreed every man of them in One End; and so are not others. Their End hath that Power in its attractive Excellency, by which it can do the greatest things that are to be done with the will of man. The Ends of the ungodly are small and childish toye• ▪ Our End also is as the Sun, sufficient for all; and therefore 〈…〉 matter of contention: All may have God as well as One, without diminishing the happiness of any.
3. Godliness takes away the Ball of the worlds contention, that sets men everywhere together by the ears. It teacheth men to slight the Honour and Vain-glory that the Gallants will fight and die for: And to contemn that wealth, that Towns, and Countries, and Kingdoms are divided and destroyed by. It teacheth men to slight that Money, the Love of which is the root of all evil, 1 Tim. 6. 10. It showeth men a better Treasure, and not only Verbally, but Effectually teacheth them to trample upon that which the tumultuous world doth so much scramble for, and seek by such rapine, oppression, deceit and blood. If all the Ambitious climbers and State-troublers, were truly godly, they would quietly seek for higher Honours. If all the covetous Noblemen, Soldiers, Landlords, and Rich men were truly Godly, they would never set both City and Country into combustions, and poor oppressed families into complaints, for the Love of Money. If thieves turned godly, you might travail safely, and spare your locks, and, keep your purses. If Tradesmen were all truly Godly, deceit