A27065:26
The vain religion of the formal hypocrite, and the mischief of an unbridled tongue…
The vain religion of the formal hypocrite, and the mischief of an unbridled tongue (as against religion, rulers, or dissenters) described, in several sermons, preached at the Abby in Westminster, before many members of the Honourable House of Commons, 1660 ; and The fools prosperity, the occasion of his destruction : a sermon preached at Covent-Garden / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by R.W. for F. Tyton, 1660
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.
not force but fraud that we have to resist. And were not the mind of a carnal man exceeding brutish, (while he seemeth wise for carnal things) it were a thing incredible that so many men, could by all the subtlety of hell be drawn ⟨p. 5⟩in the day-light of the Gospel, deliberately and obstinately to refuse their happiness, and to choose the open way of their damnation, and leave their friends lamenting their calamity, that might have mercy, and cannot be persuaded to consent.
not force but fraud that we have to resist. And were not the mind of a carnal man exceeding brutish, (while he seemeth wise for carnal things) it were a thing incredible that so many men, could by all the subtilty of hell be drawn ⟨p. 5⟩in the day-light of the Gospel, deliberately and obstinately to refuse their happiness, and to choose the open way of their damnation, and leave their friends lamenting their calamity, that might have mercy, and cannot be perswaded to consent.
That Satan is the great Deceiver, and layeth the snare, and manageth the bait, we are all convinced: that the world and all our fleshly accommodations are the instrumental Deceivers; the snare, the bait, which Satan useth, is also a thing that we all confess. But that beside the Devil and the World, a Reasonable Creature should be his own Deceiver, and that in a business of unspeakable, everlasting consequence, and that Religion it self, (a seeming Religiousness that indeed is Vain,) should be made by himself the means of his Deceit, this is a mystery, that is opened to ⟨p. 6⟩you in my Text, and requireth our most careful search and consideration.
That Satan is the great Deceiver, and layeth the snare, and manageth the bait, we are all convinced: that the world and all our fleshly accommodations are the instrumental Deceivers; the snare, the bait, which Satan useth, is also a thing that we all confess. But that beside the Devil and the World, a Reasonable Creature should be his own Deceiver, and that in a business of unspeakable, everlasting consequence, and that Religion it self, (a seeming Religiousness that indeed is Vain,) should be made by himself the means of his Deceit, this is a mysterie, that is opened to