A39678:403
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion
The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native country, and the souls of men.The reasonableness of personal reformation, and the necessity of conversion; the true methods of making all men happy in this world, and in the world to come Seasonably discoursed, and earnestly pressed upon this licentious age. By J.F. a sincere lover of his native countrey, and the souls of men.
London: printed for Thomas Cockerill, 1691
THE REASONABLENESS OF Personal Reformation, › Chapter 6 › Section 4
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.
SECT. IV.
If the Party thus generally hated and maligned, be (for the generality of them) serious and godly Christians; or if the strictness and holiness of their Lives, and tenderness of their Consciences be the true Ground and Reason of our hatred of them; such an hatred, when it becomes general, is a direful presage of some common Calamity and Misery hastening upon such a People, Hos. 9. 7. The days of visitation are come, the ⟨p. 101⟩days of recompense are come, Israel shall know it; the Prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad; for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
If the Party thus generally hated and maligned, be (for the generality of them) serious and godly Christians; or if the strictness and holiness of their Lives, and tenderness of their Consciences be the true Ground and Reason of our hatred of them; such an hatred, when it becomes general, is a direful presage of some common Calamity and Misery hastning upon such a People, Hos. 9. 7. The days of visitation are come, the ⟨p. 101⟩days of recompence are come, Israel shall know it; the Prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad; for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
And our own Reason will give us this Conclusion, as well as Scripture. For whatsoever brings Sin to its full maturity, must needs hasten Judgments. And what can heighten and accent the Sins of a People more than such a cruel hatred of good Men upon the score and account before given? All hatred of Godliness hath a tang of Devilishness. 'Tis a desperate flying in the very Face of God, whose Image Holiness is. Sin can scarce be graduated a peg higher