N17286:492
The saints everlasting rest
The saints everlasting rest: or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in glory: extracted from the works of Mr. Richard Baxter, by John Wesley, M.A. late fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.
Philadelphia: printed by Prichard & Hall, 1790
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.
5. Another common hinderance, is, a sinful bashfulness. When we should labour to make men ashamed of their sins, we are ourselves ashamed of our duties. May not these sinners condemn us, when they will not blush to swear or be drunk, and we blush to tell them of it, and persuade them from it? Sinners will boast of their sins, and show them in the open streets: and shall not we be as bold in drawing them from sin? Not that I would have inferiors forget their distance in admonishing their superiors; but do it with all humility, and submission, and respect. But yet I would much less have them forget their duty to GOD and their friends, be they never so much their superiors: it is a thing that must be done. Bashfulness is unseemly in cases of flat necessity. And indeed it is not a work to be ashamed of; to obey GOD in persuading men from their sins to Christ, and helping to save their souls, is not a business for a man to blush at. Yet, alas, what abundance of souls have been neglected through the prevailing of this sin! Even the most of us are heinously guilty in this point. Reader! is not this thy own case? Hath not thy conscience told thee of thy duty many a time, and put thee on to speak to poor sinners, lest they perish? And yet thou hast been ashamed to open thy mouth to them, and so let them alone to sink or swim; believe me thou wilt ere long be ashamed of this shame: O read those words of Christ and tremble: He that is ashamed of me and of my words, before this adulterous generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed before his Father and the angels.
5. Another common hinderance, is, a sinful bashfulness. When we should labour to make men ashamed of their sins, we are ourselves ashamed of our duties. May not these sinners condemn us, when they will not blush to swear or be drunk, and we blush to tell them of it, and persuade them from it? Sinners will boast of their sins, and shew them in the open streets: and shall not we be as bold in drawing them from sin? Not that I would have inferiors forget their distance in admonishing their superiors; but do it with all humility, and submission, and respect. But yet I would much less have them forget their duty to GOD and their friends, be they never so much their superiors: it is a thing that must be done. Bashfulness is unseemly in cases of flat necessity. And indeed it is not a work to be ashamed of; to obey GOD in persuading men from their sins to Christ, and helping to save their souls, is not a business for a man to blush at. Yet, alas, what abundance of souls have been neglected through the prevailing of this sin! Even the most of us are heinously guilty in this point. Reader! is not this thy own case? Hath not thy conscience told thee of thy duty many a time, and put thee on to speak to poor sinners, lest they perish? And yet thou hast been ashamed to open thy mouth to them, and so let them alone to sink or swim; believe me thou wilt ere long be ashamed of this shame: O read those words of Christ and tremble: He that is ashamed of me and of my words, before this adulterous generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed before his Father and the angels.