Baxter - BT767 B28 1662

Pare If~, A SAint ~r a Br11u; [Them thAt honour me I 'Wilt honour, ~tnd they that defpi/t me jh'JlllbeliJ.htly efleemed] BeholdJ_e defpi/ers, and W!._nderandpe– ri/h: for [bis word fh~ll be fulhlled upoh you,- ana the ~ork be wrought which you would not belteve when God_ foretold it~ and will not yet underfiand qnd believe, thGugh 11: _b~ de– clared to you, AEI:s 1 3. 4}. Think not that the injirrr~$tUJ ·of the Godly do jutlifie your contempt of God!inefs. Thtnk nor: that a rudadn Cbriflsfamily will J uHifie you for making afco~n of hj5ftt milJ, and perfecuting his difciples? or that a Chamm the Ark, or the fin of Noah wi ll warrant you to make them as bad as the clell:royed world, whom God bad done fo much to fa ve? Think not when you have jc:ered at a Holy lif~, that God will rake it for a good excufe, to tell him that you had found a fa1:1lt in his fervants, or an hypocrite uept into his Church. He hateth their faults much more then you: but will you there"7 fore hate their goodnefs? Condemn the bret~cbes of hi.s Laws and fpare not; but will yo1:1 therefore condemn .the kfeping , of them? 0 England! if thou..hatifi had the grace or wit to ufe Chrifi better in his waye5 and fervams • he woald have ufed thee better, and dealt more gently with thy inhabitants , and flames and calamities might have been prevented. Often waft thou tolcl from 2 Chron. 36. 14. what i£ wa5 that capti-vated Jfrael, and made their PrieHs and people to be the Heathens flaves [When the Lord Goa {ent unto them~) hu Prophets, hecaufe he had complfl./fivn o» his people and his dw1!/ingplace, they mQckfd the m£jJengers of Go_d; ~tnd deJfiifed his words, and mifufod hii 'Prophets, unti/J the Wr11.th of the Lord ~trofe againft his people , till there WIU Ho remedy. J But alas, thou hail: gone ·mtich further then this. 1/r"e/ mocked the Prophets; but I remember not that it is ever faid of them, that theway of godlinefs it felf was mad e a co"!mo»[corn amon~ them : but fiill they gloried in the L~rd, andmtheLaw, and mtheTcmple,andthe Hol]Worfoip. But here, if a man did but talk of heaven; or Qf any holy fubject, or reprove a fwearer, or nor joyn with them in rheir impieties, the common cry was [ Thu is one of the holy Brethren: here . is omof the Saints: It willnever be well tiJl We are rid ~f thefe Puritans 4nd Preci(ians. J How oft ·have I be3lrd almofi the f:un:e words from Engli{h men, as L~t did from §>odomi£es, Gen. I 9. 9· [ Tbis one fe_flow came in to jojnurn, and he will needs 6e a r rto(((e.] when they hvcd in their 14civioufnrfs, lufts, exfejs of drink., , B h 2 re-

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