A27016:908
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.
Well, poor stubborn carnal sinners! you have been invited to this feast as well as others! we are sent to call you, and even compel you to come in (though upon the terms and in the way of Christ!) but you have no great list; but somewhat else doth please you better! And will it prove better indeed to you at the end? Well, take your own choice! If an Alehouse be better then the Table of the Lord; if your merry companions do please you better then the Communion of the Saints, or if you cannot submit to the order and discipline of the family of Christ, that you may partake of his provision, you may follow your own corrupt desires, and see whither they will lead you! But here it is that I shall choose my pleasures till I reach the everlasting pleasures. And though in this low communion of imperfect Saints, we see but in a glass, and have but some small imperfect Sasts of the glorious things which Hope expecteth; yet this is more then all that earth and flesh can yield: and it is most perfect Pleasure that by these is revealed, sealed, and Represented. Sacraments can assure us of perfect joys, though they give us but little joy in hand.
Obj. But if Sacraments be so pleasant, why then (saith a disconsolate soul,) have I found no more pleasure or comfort in them? Answ. Even in the soul that's made alive by Grace, diseases may ⟨p. 294⟩much corrupt the appetite, and make the sweetest thing seem bitter. Are not Sacraments sweet to you? and do you not delight in the communion of God and of his Saints? I will not say much to you, lest it seem digressive, but briefly ask you these few Questions.
Obj. But if Sacraments be so pleasant, why then (saith a disconsolate soul,) have I found no more pleasure or comfort in them? Answ. Even in the soul thats made alive by Grace, diseases may ⟨p. 294⟩much corrupt the appetite, and make the sweetest thing seem bitter. Are not Sacraments sweet to you? and do you not delight in the communion of God and of his Saints? I will not say much to you, lest it seem degrestive, but briefly ask you these few Questions.