A97353:839
The second part of The nonconformists plea for peace being an account of their…
The second part of The nonconformists plea for peace being an account of their principles about civil and ecclesiastical authority and obedience ... : mostly written many years past, and now published to save our lives and the kingdoms peace, from the false and bloody plotters ... / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Hancock, 1680
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.
34. We take it therefore to be the duty of all Christians, freely to confess their sins, and to take their faults to themselves; and for Ministers to lay them plainly on the persons that are guilty, lest they should be thought to be the product of the Christian Religion: And that the partiality of those that justify all or any of the crimes or faults of Christians, doth intimate blasphemy against Christ, as if he taught, or justified such things. And therefore the holy Scriptures do so plainly open the sins even of good men, to teach us to take our shame unto our selves, and not to cast it on Christ and Religion, which most condemn all sorts of sin.
34. We take it therefore to be the duty of all Christians, freely to confess their sins, and to take their faults to themselves; and for Ministers to lay them plainly on the persons that are guilty, lest they should be thought to be the product of the Christian Religion: And that the partiality of those that justifie all or any of the crimes or faults of Christians, doth intimate blasphemy against Christ, as if he taught, or justified such things. And therefore the holy Scriptures do so plainly open the sins even of good men, to teach us to take our shame unto our selves, and not to cast it on Christ and Religion, which most condemn all sorts of sin.
35. And sin is so far from being ever the better, for being found in a Noah, a David, or a Peter, that it hath manifold aggravations in such, which it hath not in other sorts of men. And it is no less abhorred of God, who is not reconcilable to the sins of any: However we still know that the failings of a froward and careless child or friend, are not so mortal as the contempt of a despiser, or the malignity of an enemy.
35. And sin is so far from being ever the better, for being found in a Noah, a David, or a Peter, that it hath manifold aggravations in such, which it hath not in other sorts of men. And it is no less abhorred of God, who is not reconcileable to the sins of any: However we still know that the failings of a froward and careless child or friend, are not so mortal as the contempt of a despiser, or the malignity of an enemy.