A27016:819
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.
8. Moreover the Honour of the Saints, is the less like to make them Proud, because Humility is part of the Grace that •• bestowed on them. To be Proud and Holy, is to be sick and Holy, to be Light and Dark: they are plain contraries. No man is proud but for want of Holiness: and therefore that Holiness should efficiently make men proud is impossible, any more th•n Health can make men sick, or Darkness can be caused by Light. And if objectively any be Proud of his Holiness, […] but in such a measure as he is not holy. Holiness doth ever […] ⟨p. 261⟩Pride, and contain Humility and self-denial, as an essential part: All Christs Disciples learn of him in their measure to be meek and lowly.
8. Moreover the Honour of the Saints, is the less like to make them Proud, because Humility is part of the Grace that •• bestowed on them. To be Proud and Holy, is to be sick and Holy, to be Light and Dark: they are plain contraries. No man is proud but for want of Holiness: and therefore that Holiness should efficiently make men proud is impossible, any more th•n Health can make men sick, or Darkness can be caused by Light. And if objectively any be Proud of his Holiness, 〈…〉 but in such a measure as he is noholy. Holiness doth ever 〈…〉 ⟨p. 261⟩Pride, and contain Humility and self-denyal, as an essential part: All Christs Disciples learn of him in their measure to be meek and lowly.
9. Let experience tell you whether it be not some worldly Honour or parts and gifts, that are the much commoner object of Pride then Holiness. I have oft heard talk of mens being proud of their Humility and Holiness: but the Temptations of my own soul, have comparatively lain but little that way; nor have I observed it the common case of others, in any proportion with other kinds of Pride. Riches and Honours, and Beauty and Dignity, I see people ordinarily proud of. And I see many Proud of Counterfeit Graces, that have none that is sincere (as far as may be perceived by others) to be proud of. And I see many Proud of their Learning, and Knowledge and nimble tngnes, a hundred fold more then ever I found true Christians, Proud of the Love of God, and a Heavenly mind. Alas we have much a doe for the most part, to discern that we have any of this at all, and to find so much of it in our selves as is necessary to our support and thankfulness.