A27065:65
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.
3. And therefore he maketh him up a Religion of so much of Christianity as will stand with his Pleasures, profits and reputation in the world, that so he may not be left in despair of being saved, when he must leave the world that he must loved. The cheap and the easy parts of Christianity, and those that are most in credit in the world, and that flesh and blood have least against, these he will cull out from among the rest, and make him a Religion of, passing by the dearer, and more difficult, and spiritual parts.
3. And therefore he maketh him up a Religion of so much of Christianity as will stand with his Pleasures, profits and reputation in the world, that so he may not be left in despair of being saved, when he must leave the world that he must loved. The cheap and the easie parts of Christianity, and those that are most in credit in the world, and that flesh and blood have least against, these he will cull out from among the rest, and make him a Religion of, passing by the dearer, and more difficult, and spiritual parts.
4. Having gone thus far, he persuadeth his own heart, that this kind of Religion which he hath patched up and framed to himself, […] Religion, the Faith, the ⟨p. 37⟩Hope, the Charity, the Repentance, the Obedience, to which Salvation is promised. And that he is a true Christian, notwithstanding his defects; and that his spots are but such as are consistent with grace, and that his sins are but pardoned infirmities: and that he hath part in Christ, and the promises of life, and shall be saved, though he be not of the preciser strain. When he committeth any sin, he confidently imagineth, that his confession and his wishing it were undone again (when he hath had all the pleasure that sin can give him) is true repentance: and that as a penitent he shall be forgiven. And thus while he thinketh himself something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself, Gal. 6. 3. He hath a counterfeit of every grace of God. A counterfeit Faith, and Hope, and Love, and Repentance, and Zeal, and Humility, and Patience,