A plea for the Godly

Thus (Good Reader) I have, with all convenient brevity, endeavoured to vindicate the true Saint, and take him out of the fog. I have set before thy eyes a child of light. Mark the perfect man^*, and imitate him: If notwithstanding all this surpassing excellency of the righteous, any shall be so wicked as to persist in unrighteousness, they love death, Prov. 8. 36. If they shall glory in their unrighteousness^*, it is as if beggars should boast of their sores: If they shall disparage Holiness, it is like a blind man's reproaching the Sun; let the righteous bi•d reproaches as a Crown ⟨p. 107⟩about their head^*, and be no more troubled, then they would be to have mad men laugh at them, Psal. 37. 7. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. The time is shortly coming, when God •ill clear the innocency of his Servants; after he hath wiped off tears from their eyes, he will wipe off reproach from their name^*: and then this Text shall be universally subscribed to, The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour.