A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian EthicsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
_Direct._ XIX. Remember still that conversion is the turning from your
carnal selves to God; and therefore that it engageth you in a
perpetual opposition to your own corrupt conceits and wills, to
mortify and annihilate them, and captivate them wholly to the holy
word and will of God.
Think not that your conversion despatcheth all that is to be done in
order to your salvation. No, it is but the beginning of your work,
that is, of your delight and happiness; you are but engaged by it to
that which must be performed throughout all your lives; it entereth
you into the right way, not to sit down there, but to go on till you
come to the desired end. It entereth you into Christ's army, that
afterwards you may there win the crown of life; and the great enemy
that you engage against, is yourselves. There will still be a law in
your members, rebelling against the law that the Holy Ghost hath put
into your minds: your own conceits and your own wills are the great
rebels against Christ, and enemies of your sanctification. Therefore
it must be your resolved daily work to mortify them, and bring them
clean over to the mind and will of God, which is their rule and end.
If you feel any conceits arising in you that are contrary to the
Scripture, and quarrel with the word of God, suppress them as
rebellious, and give them not liberty to cavil with your Maker, and
malapertly dispute with your Governor and Judge; but silence it, and
force it reverently to submit. If you feel any will in you contrary to
your Creator's will, and that there is something which you would have
or do, which God is against, and hath forbid you, remember now how
great a part of your work it is, to fly for help to the Spirit of
grace, and to destroy all such rebellious desires. Think it not
enough, that you can bear the denial of those desires; but presently
destroy the desires themselves. For if you let alone the desires, they
may at last lay hold upon their prey, before you are aware: or if you
should be guilty of nothing but the desires themselves, it is no small
iniquity; being the corruption of the heart, and the rebellion and
adultery of the principal faculty, which should be kept loyal and
chaste to God. The crossness of thy will to the will of God, is the
sum of all the impiety and evil of the soul; and the subjection and
conformity of thy will to his, is the heart of the new creature, and
of thy rectitude and sanctification. Favour not therefore any
self-conceitedness or self-willedness, nor any rebelliousness against
the mind and will of God, any more than you would bear with the
disjointing of your bones, which will be little for your ease or use,
till they are reduced to their proper place.
_Direct._ XX. Lastly, Be sure that you renounce all conceit of
self-sufficiency or merit in any thing you do, and wholly rely on the
Lord Jesus Christ, as your Head, and Life, and Saviour, and
Intercessor with the Father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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