A27016:661
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.
6. And we cannot believe you, when you speak evil of a holy course, because your words are against all Religion, and common reason; and much more, destructive of the Christian faith. If God be not to be Loved with all our hearts, and served with our greatest care, then he is not God: or then there is no such thing ⟨p. 186⟩as Religion to be regarded. A God that is worse then the Creature, is no God. If we must not seek first the Kingdom of God, and the Righteousness thereof (Matth. 6. 33.) as Christ hath commanded, then it is in vain to seek it at all. If there be no Heaven or Hell, let us lay by all Religion. But if there be, that man that thinks it not worth his greatest care and diligence to be saved, doth forfeit the reputation of his reason with his soul. Will you believe that man that saith he believeth that there is an Everlasting Glory to be sought, and made sure of in this life of our pilgrimage and warfare, and yet thinks it not worth our seeking for above all, and worthy all our cost and labour? He speaks a gross and blockish contradiction. A Heaven no better then Earth, is no Heaven. A Heaven that is not worthy the labour of a holy life, is no Heaven. And a God that is not worthy of all that we can do, is no God. Either plainly say that you are Pagans and worse, and believe not any life but this: Or else live as Christians, if you will be called Christians; say not that you believe there is a Hell, if you think a Holy life too dear to scape it.
6. And we cannot believe you, when you speak evil of a holy course, because your words are against all Religion, and common reason; and much more, destructive of the Christian faith. If God be not to be Loved with all our hearts, and served with our greatest care, then he is not God: or then there is no such thing ⟨p. 186⟩as Religion to be regarded. A God that is worse then the Creature, is no God. If we must not seek first the Kingdom of God, and the Righteousness thereof (Matth. 6. 33.) as Christ hath commanded, then it is in vain to seek it at all. If there be no Heaven or Hell, let us lay by all Religion. But if there be, that man that thinks it not worth his greatest care and diligence to be saved, doth forseit the reputation of his reason with his soul. Will you believe that man that saith he believeth that there is an Everlasting Glory to be sought, and made sure of in this life of our pilgrimage and warfare, and yet thinks it not worth our seeking for above all, and worthy all our cost and labour? He speaks a gross and blockish contradiction. A Heaven no better then Earth, is no Heaven. A Heaven that is not worthy the labour of a holy life, is no Heaven. And a God that is not worthy of all that we can do, is no God. Either plainly say that you are Pagans and worse, and believe not any life but this: Or else live as Christians, if you will be called Christians; say not that you believe there is a Hell, if you think a Holy life too dear to scape it.