Baxter - BT767 B28 1662

. ( 3~) that have no more mercy on your fefyes : Certainly it is much · wo~fe eo do it , then to cell you what you do. Gotl tells_men of the1r fin, andGoa cloth nothing but wha.t isgodd; but it is thfm– felves on!] chat commit it· : I befeech you do but underfiand what: you are doing, as long as the One thingnecef{.rry ·is negl:ded by you. . 4. Confider alfo, that whatfoever elfe you have been doing m the world, if you have not done the Otle thing needful, Jon have ~nman'dyvur/elves, andlivedbelowJOUr Reafon, and in plain EIIJg/~fh, ]Mha.ve lit~ed M befidesyoNr wits. · I giVe you no harder hlnguage then God hirnfelf bath frequent· ly give~you in his \Vord, an~'f;hen you will fhorcly give your !elves, tf you repent not ; ye~~aG. fooner if. you do repem.. If you have (in this ) the ufe of your Reafon , you mu!l: needs know what you have your Reafon for :. And I befeech you tell me for what you have it, if not to ferve and plcafe your Maker , and prepare for )·our everlafiing O:ate ? Is it only that you may know how to plow and fow,and follow your trades and · pleafure · in rhe world, and fatisfieyour fldh a little while, and rhen die as the beans that perifu ? None of you, I fuppofe, will fay fo, that: calls himfelf aChrifiian : If God had made you for no higher things then beaUs , _he would h<1ve given you no higher faculties andendowments. As theybe not made to enj9J God, fo theyhave no k..n(Jw/edg:~ of him : he fendetb not his Wqrd to them , and callech them not to learn the knowl edge of his will : But you know, or may know, that thereis aGod, and that he u a rewarder of them thilt diligent/) f a lzhiWJ ; and arecapaUe of Loving him, intending him , and ferving him, and therefore of enjoJing him : .Beafts are not ruled by thehopes and fea~·J of a life ah er this: For their nature and end do not require it. But men muft be thm ruled , or elfe rhere can be no fuffic ient ruling of them , in an ordinary way : Which ihews that the Nature of man is ca·;– pable of the things whieh are the matter of their hopes apd fears. VerilySirs, I think, as to ~my good that cometh by it, there is very lir tle dtfference between havingReafon, and having none, if we had nothing to do with it, but ctJ nningly to lay up our food, and makeprovi!ion for thiscorruptible fle~1, ar.d h~dnot another life ro mind. It were no fuch great d1fference, n my opinion, as i~ c~~O!llY goes f~r, \~~e~~~~ ~~ Y'.~r~ 7'!'f'!_ or dogs it.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=