A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian EthicsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
O when thou
seest the light of Christ, what a wonder will it possess thee with, at
the things which thou now forgettest! What joy will it fill thee with!
and with what pity to the sleepy world! But if thou wilt needs sleep
on, be it known to thee, sinner, it shall not be long. If thou wilt
wake no sooner, death and vengeance will awake thee. Thou wilt wake
when thou seest the other world, and seest the things which thou
wouldst not believe, and contest before thy dreadful Judge! "Thy
damnation slumbereth not," 2 Pet. ii. 3. There are no sleepy souls in
heaven or hell, all are awake there: and the day that hath awakened so
many, shall waken thee. Watch, then, if thou love thy soul, lest thy
Lord come "suddenly and find thee sleeping. What I say to one, I say
to all, Watch," Mark xiii. 34-37.
_Tempt._ II. If Satan cannot keep the soul in a sleepy, careless,
inconsiderate forgetfulness, he would make the unregenerate soul
believe, that there is no such thing as regenerating grace; but that
it is a fancied thing, which no man hath experience of; and he saith,
as Nicodemus, "How can these things be?" John iii. 9. He thinks that
natural conscience is enough.
_Direct._ II. But this may easily be refuted by observing, that
holiness is but the very health and rectitude of the soul; and is no
otherwise supernatural, than as health to him that is born a leper. It
is the rectitude of nature, or its disposition to the use and end that
it was made for. Though grace be called supernatural, 1. Because it is
not born with us; and 2. Corrupted nature is against it; 3. And the
end of it is the God of nature, who is above nature; 4. And the
revelation and other means are supernatural (as Christ's incarnation,
resurrection, &c.): yet both nature, and Scripture, and experience
tell you, that man is made for another life, and for such works which
he is utterly unfit for, till grace have changed and renewed him, as
it doth by many before your eyes. See 2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. vi. 15; Gal.
iv. 19; John iii. 3, 5, 6; Matt. xviii. 3; 1 Pet. i. 23.
_Tempt._ III. But, saith the tempter, if supernatural grace be
necessary, yet it may be born in you. Infants have no sin; Christ
saith, "Of such is the kingdom of God: Abraham is your Father; yea,
God," John viii. 39, 41. You are born of christian parents.
_Direct._ III. See the full proof of original sin in all infants, in my
"Treatise of the Divine Life," part I. chap. xi. xii. Grace may indeed
be put betimes into nature, but comes not by nature.[42] "Except you be
born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John iii. 3, 5.
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away: behold, all things are become new," 2 Cor. v. 17. But how vain is
it for him to boast that he was born holy, who finds himself at the
present unholy! Show that you have a holy, heavenly heart and life, and
then you are happy, whenever it was wrought.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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