A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian EthicsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
not make the truth and church amends, to say at last, I had thought I
had done well. Let those go to the wars of disputing, and contending,
and censuring, and siding with a sect, that are riper, and better
understand the cause: wars are not for children. Do you suspend your
judgment till you can solidly and certainly inform it, and serve God
in charity, quietness, and peace; and it is two to one, but you will
live to see the day, that the contenders that would have led you into
their wars, will come off with so much loss themselves, as will teach
them to approve your peaceable course, or teach you to bless God that
kept you in your place and duty.
In all this I deny not, but every truth of God is to be valued at a very
high rate; and that he that shall carry himself in a neutrality, when
faith or godliness is the matter in controversy, or shall do it merely
for his worldly ends, to save his stake by temporizing, is a
false-hearted hypocrite, and at the heart of no religion. But withal I
tell you, that all is not matter of faith or godliness that the
autonomian-papist, the antinomian-libertine, or other passionate parties
shall call so: and that as we must avoid contempt of the smallest truth,
so we must much more avoid the most heinous sins which we may commit for
the defending of an error: and that some truths must be silenced for a
time, though not denied, when the contending for them is unseasonable,
and tendeth to the injury of the church. If you were masters in the
church, you must not teach your scholars to their hurt, though it be
truth you teach them. And if you were physicians, you must not cram
them, or medicate them to their hurt. Your power and duty is not to
destruction, but to edification. The good of the patient is the end of
your physic. All truth is not to be spoken, nor all good to be done, by
all men, nor at all times. He that will do contrary, and take this for a
carnal principle, doth but call folly and sin by the name of zeal and
duty, and set the house on fire to roast his egg, and with the
Pharisees, prefer the outward rest of their sabbath, before his
brother's life or health. Take heed what you do when God's honour, and
men's souls, and the church's peace are concerned in it.
And let me tell you my own observation. As far as my judgment hath
been able to reach, the men that have stood for pacification and
moderation, have been the most judicious, and those that have best
understood themselves, in most controversies that ever I heard under
debate among good christians: and those that furiously censured them
as lukewarm or corrupted, have been men that had least judgment, and
most passion, pride, and foul mistakes in the points in question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account