A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian EthicsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
7. I suppose that thou art easily convinced, that in all the world there
is no creature that can show so full a title to thee as God; or that
hath so great authority to govern thee, or that can be so good to thee,
or do so much for thee, as God can do, or hath done, and will do, if
thou do thy part; and therefore that there is nothing to be preferred
before him, or compared with him in our obedience or love: nor is there
any that can save us from his justice, if we stand out against him.
[Sidenote: That he that ruleth the world by hopes and fears of another
life, doth not rule them by deceit and lies, and that he hath rewards
and punishments hereafter.]
8. I suppose that as thou knowest God is just in his laws and
judgments,[13] so that he is so faithful that he will not, and so
all-sufficient that he need not, deceive mankind, and govern them by
mere deceit: this better beseems the devil, than God: and therefore
that as he governeth man on earth by the hopes and fears of another
life, he doth not delude them into such hopes or fears; and as he doth
not procure obedience by any rewards or punishments in this life, as
the principal means, (the wicked prospering, and the best being
persecuted and afflicted here,) therefore his rewards or punishments
must needs be principally hereafter in the life to come. For if he
have no rewards or punishments, he hath no judgment; and if he have no
judgment, he hath no laws (or else no justice); and if he have no
laws, (or no justice,) he is no governor of man (or not a righteous
governor); and if he be not our governor, (and just,) he is not our
God; and if he were not our God, we had never been his creatures, nor
had being, or been men.
[Sidenote: That man being bound to love and obey God above all, is bound
to do nothing in vain, and that we cannot be losers by his service.]
9. I suppose thou knowest that if God had not discovered what he would
do with us in the life to come, yet man is highliest bound to obey and
love his Maker, because he is our absolute Lord, our highest Ruler, and
our chief Benefactor; and all that we are to have is from him. And that
if man be bound to spend his life in the service of his God, it is
certain that he shall be no loser by him, no, not by the costliest
obedience that we can perform; for God cannot appoint us any thing that
is vain; nor can he be worse to us than an honest man, that will see
that we lose not by his service. Therefore that God for whom we must
spend and forsake this life, and all those pleasures which sensualists
enjoy, hath certainly some greater thing to give us, in another life.
[Sidenote: That no infidel can say, He is sure there is no life to
come.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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