A27016:709
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.
Honesty is nothing but true Virtue, or the Moral Goodness of the Mind or Action: An Honest man and a Good man, is indeed all one: [Greek or Hebrew] or [Greek or Hebrew] with the Greeks; one that is both inwardly virtuous, and manifests it in the cleanness and integrity of his life, in the sight of men. All men for ought I can perceive, would be accounted Honest. This reputation Honesty hath among its vilest enemies, that they approve the Name, and would not appear to be its enemies, till they have put some other Name upon it: While they hate Honesty, and persecute it, they would be called Honest men themselves. And therefore by the consent of all the world, friends and foes, that is the Best way which is the Honestest.
Honesty is nothing but true Virtue, or the Moral Goodness of the Mind or Action: An Honest man and a Good man, is indeed all one: 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 or 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 with the Greeks; one that is both inwardly virtuous, and manifests it in the cleaness and integrity of his life, in the sight of men. All men for ought I can perceive, would be accounted Honest. This reputation Honesty hath among its vilest enemies, that they approve the Name, and would not appear to be its enemies, till they have put some other Name upon it: While they hate Honesty, and persecute it, they would be called Honest men themselves. And therefore by the consent of all the world, friends and foes, that is the Best way which is the Honestest.
O that you would all but stand to this, in the choosing of your course, and in your daily practice! Will you all agree upon a Holy life, if I prove it past all doubt to be the Honestest? ⟨p. 206⟩O that you would! Yea, if I prove that there is no man truly Honest in the world, that is not truly Godly? If you would stand to this, you would soon be changed. Indeed it is nothing but but Dishonesty that we would have you changed from. And if you will not stand to this, but will refuse Honesty when you know it, for shame lay by the Name of Honesty, and wish not men to call you Honest any more. Either be what you would be called; or give men leave to call you as you are. Let us come then to the trial, and see who is indeed the Honest man; the Godly or the ungodly.