A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

Name: A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…
Author: Richard Baxter

A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ... / by Richard Baxter.

Richard Baxter 1615–1691London: printed by R.W. for Francis Tyton, 1662

[17], 23, 384 [i.e. 374] p. · 179k words · Wing B1382 · ESTC R6046

Title page typeset from the transcription.

Part 2 › Chapter 9: Holiness is the most Honourable Way.

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.

[ Earlier:803–818 of 1,121

:803p. 255

If the Athenian Orator regarded the censure of Socrates more then of all the rest of his auditors, we have cause to judge he Elogies of experienced holy men a greater honour then of thousands of the wicked, & greater then all their contempt or scorn is able to weigh down. The applause of the wicked is ofttimes a dishonour in wise mens eyes. Was it not Balaam's chiefest honour to hear from Balak, [I thought to promote thee to great Honours, but the Lord hath kept thee back from Honour.] Numb. 24. 11. The Honour that God keepeth a man from, is no Honour: but it is an Honour to be kept from such Honour by the Lord: innocent poverty is incomparably more Honourable then Riches by iniquity, which is the greatest shame.

If the Athenian Orator regarded the censure of Socrates more then of all the rest of his auditors, we have cause to judge he Elogies of experienced holy men a greater honour then of thousands of the wicked, & greater then all their contempt or scorn is able to weigh down. The applause of the wicked is ofttimes a dishonour in wise mens eyes. Was it not Balaams chiefest honour to hear from Balak, [I thought to promote thee to great Honours, but the Lord hath kept thee back from Honour.] Numb. 24. 11. The Honour that God keepeth a man from, is no Honour: but it is an Honour to be kept from such Honour by the Lord: innocent poverty is incomparably more Honourable then Riches by iniquity, which is the greatest shame.

:804p. 255–256

10. Lastly it is unspeakable everlasting Honour that holiness doth tend unto, and which holy men shall enjoy with God. The very Relation of a Godly man to his everlasting Glory, is an Honour ten thousand times surpassing the Honour of all the Kingdoms of the world. If you did but know that one of your poor neighbours should certainly be a King, would you not presently honour him, even in his rags? You may know that the Saints shall reign with Christ, as sure as if an Angel from heaven had told you so, and more; and therefore how should a Saint be honoured? If God had but legibly marked out some among you for salvation, and written in their fore-heads, [This man shall be saved] would not all the Parish reverence that man? Why a Heavenly

[ Earlier passages Later passages ]

Reformers309

Puritans1,782

Westminster Assembly24

Evangelicals36