Baxter - BV649 B3 1670

440 Over®value gnat the &et henscenfures. with them by or filence and pra&ife, left we fhould be cenfured by them as othersare. Efpe- dailyMinifters are greatly indanger of this fnare. For the prophane hate them for their do&rine and their holy lives ; And it is the godly that are the fruit of their labours , and the fatistattion tihich theyhive for all their fufferings, and the comfort of their lives : And if thefe forfake them and defpife them, with whom íhafl they find any comfort in the world ? Therefore they are very mach its danger of complying too far with their errours and weakneffes, to keep their intereft in them : And they think it is that.they may do them good. And perhaps this was the cafe of Teter and Barnaba4, with the weak Judaizing Ghrifti- ans. For Pa141 telleth us Rom. the 14. that it was the ufe of the weak (who thought thofe things to be duties and fins which were not fo) to judge the ftrong, who knew their liberty : And it was the cuflorre of the ftrong to defpife. the weak : Juil as at this day, the miftaken' fuperflitious Chriflian, faith, They are prophane that are not againft all that he isagainft :And thofe that fee his errour fay, what giddy whim(ical fanaticks are thefe ? So was it then ; and fo it is like tobe , till God give the world a better mind. Many a faithful Mini- fer I have known, who have freely confeffed to -me, that the cenfures of peeviflh felf-conceited Chriftians , enclined to feparation , was a far, f ronger temptation to them to forfake or over- run their own underftandings, than all the offers of honours, or riches could beon theother fide. It is a hard thing, when we hare fpent our labour and lives to bring inen to Chr'ift, and have got them

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=