Let no man deceive himself thus; for there never 1was any Devil or man that did reproach godliness under the name of godliness, but they would put some other name upon it, under which it might appear vile and contemptible; and in this the men of the world do as the persecutors did in the Primitive times with the Christians, they put the bodies of Christians into the skins of wild beasts, and then they would set dogs upon them, and other wild beasts, to tear them: So men do to this day; they put the profession of godliness into the shapes of their own conceits, and their own slanders, and their own apprehensions, to make it ugly, and they fall a reproaching and tearing, and run upon ⟨p. 427⟩them like a company of wild beasts: And that which thou sayest is hypocrisy, is but the skin of the wild beast, thy own unshapen conceits, to make thy self and their adversaries run upon them, that you may the more freely venture; because the wild beasts would not venture upon the body of a man so freely, but when they saw the body of a man in the shape of such a beast as they hated, they ran upon it freely: And so thou dealest with Gods Saints in putting an unshapen form upon them, to let out thine heart more freely upon them. But what if that which thou callest hypocrisy, God account godliness? yea know, that this thy aspersion upon godliness, to say it is hypocrisy, and upon the people of God, to say they are hypocrites, is the reproach of Gods people, and there is a great deal of evil in it more then thou art aware of. In Mark 3. from verse 22. and so on, when Christ cast out devils, they said, He casts them out by Beelzebub the Prince of devils: well says Christ, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme, but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: So that it seems these Pharisees had sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost, in that they said, He had an unclean spirit, because they attributed that to an unclean spirit, which was done by the Spirit of Christ; only they did this against knowledge, and in malice: I do not say that all reproachers do sin against the Holy Ghost; but if it be against knowledge, and in malice, consider how near it comes: as their attributing that to an unclean spirit which came from the spirit of God was it;
Let no man deceive himself thus; for there never 1was any Devil or man that did reproach godliness under the name of godliness, but they would put some other name upon it, under which it might appear vile and contemptible; and in this the men of the world do as the persecutors did in the Primitive times with the Christians, they put the bodies of Christians into the skins of wilde beasts, and then they would set dogs upon them, and other wilde beasts, to tear them: So men do to this day; they put the profession of godliness into the shapes of their own conceits, and their own slanders, and their own apprehensions, to make it ugly, and they fall a reproaching and tearing, and run upon ⟨p. 427⟩them like a company of wilde beasts: And that which thou sayest is hypocrisie, is but the skin of the wilde beast, thy own unshapen conceits, to make thy self and their adversaries run upon them, that you may the more freely venture; because the wilde beasts would not venture upon the body of a man so freely, but when they saw the body of a man in the shape of such a beast as they hated, they ran upon it freely: And so thou dealest with Gods Saints in putting an unshapen form upon them, to let out thine heart more freely upon them. But what if that which thou callest hypocrisie, God account godliness? yea know, that this thy aspersion upon godliness, to say it is hypocrisie, and upon the people of God, to say they are hypocrites, is the reproach of Gods people, and there is a great deal of evil in it more then thou art aware of. In Mark 3. from verse 22. and so on, when Christ cast out devils, they said, He casts them out by Beelzebub the Prince of devils: well says Christ, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme, but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: So that it seems these Pharisees had sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost, in that they said, He had an unclean spirit, because they attributed that to an unclean spirit, which was done by the Spirit of Christ; onely they did this against knowledge, and in malice: I do not say that all reproachers do sin against the Holy Ghost; but if it be against knowledge, and in malice, consider how near it comes: as their attributing that to an unclean spirit which came from the spirit of God was it;
- 1Answ.
