A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian EthicsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
7. Remember how compassionate he was to men's bodies, as well as to
their souls; going up and down with unwearied diligence, doing good;
healing the blind, and lame, and deaf, and sick, and possessed: and
how all his miracles were done in charity, to do good; and none of
them to do hurt; so that he was but living, walking LOVE and MERCY. To
teach us to know God, in his love and mercy; and to abound in love and
mercy to our brethren; and to hate the spirit of hurtfulness,
persecution, and uncharitableness; and to lay out ourselves in doing,
good; and to exercise our compassion to the bodies of men, as well as
to their souls, according to our power.
8. Remember how his zeal and love endured the reproach, and resisted
the opposition of his friends, who went to lay hold on him as if he
had been beside himself, Mark iii. 20, 21: and how he bid Peter "Get
behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not
the things of God, but those of men," when in carnal love and wisdom
he rebuked him for resolving to lay down his life, saying, "Be it far
from thee, this shall not be unto thee," Matt. xvi. 22, 23. To teach
us to expect that carnal love and wisdom in our nearest friends, will
rise up against us in the work of God, to discourage us both from duty
and from sufferings; and that all are to be shaken off, and counted as
the instruments of Satan, that would tempt us to be unfaithful to our
trust and duty, and to favour ourselves by a sinful avoiding of the
sufferings which God doth call us to undergo.
9. Remember how through all his life he despised the riches of the
world, and chose a life of poverty, and was a companion of the
meanest, neither possessing nor seeking sumptuous houses, or great
attendance, or spacious lands, or a large estate. He lived in a
visible contempt of all the wealth, and splendour, and greatness of
the world: to teach us how little these little things are to be
esteemed; and that they are none of the treasure and portion of a
saint; and what a folly it is to be fond of such snares, and
diversions, and temptations which make the way to heaven to be to us
as a needle's eye.
10. Observe, how little he regardeth the honour and applause of men;
Phil. ii. 7-9, how "he made himself of no reputation, but took upon
him the form of a servant," refusing to be "made a king," or to have a
"kingdom of this world," John vi. 15. Though he told malignant
blasphemers how greatly they sinned in dishonouring him, yet did he
not seek the honour of the world: to teach us how little the thoughts
or words of ignorant men do contribute to our happiness, or are to be
accounted of; and to turn our eyes from the impertinent censures of
flesh and blood, to the judgment of our Almighty Sovereign, to whom it
is that we stand or fall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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