A Christian Directory, Part 3: Christian EcclesiasticsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 3: Christian Ecclesiastics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
_Direct._ V. Condemn not all that in others, which you dare not do
yourselves; and practise not all that yourselves, which you dare not
condemn in others.[19] For you are more capable of judging in your own
cases, and bound to do it with more exactness and diligent inquiry,
than in the case of others. Ofttimes a rational doubt may necessitate
you to suspend your practice, as your belief or judgment is suspended;
when yet it will not allow you to condemn another whose judgment and
practice hath no such suspension. Only you may doubt whether he be in
the right, as you doubt as to yourself. And yet you may not therefore
venture to do all that you dare not condemn in him; for then you must
wilfully commit all the sins in the world, which your weakness shall
make a doubt or controversy of.
_Direct._ VI. Offer God no worship that is clearly contrary to his
nature and perfections, but such as is suited to him as he is revealed
to you in his word. Thus Christ teacheth us, to worship God as he is:
and thus God often calleth for holy worship, because he is holy.[20]
1. "God is a Spirit: therefore they that worship him, must worship him
in spirit and in truth;" (which Christ opposeth to mere external
ceremony or shadows;) "for the Father seeketh such to worship him,"
John iv. 23, 24. 2. God is incomprehensible, and infinitely distant
from us: therefore worship him with admiration, and make not either
visible or mental images of him, nor debase him by undue resemblance
of him to any of his creatures.[21] 3. God is omnipresent, and
therefore you may every where lift up holy hands to him, 1 Tim. ii. 8.
And you must always worship him as in his sight. 4. God is omniscient,
and knoweth your hearts, and therefore let your hearts be employed and
watched in his worship. 5. God is most wise, and therefore not to be
worshipped ludicrously with toys, as children are pleased with to
quiet them, but with wise and rational worship. 6. God is most great,
and therefore to be worshipped with the greatest reverence and
seriousness; and not presumptuously, with a careless mind, or
wandering thoughts, or rude expressions. 7. God is most good and
gracious, and therefore not to be worshipped with backwardness,
unwillingness, and weariness, but with great delight. 8. God is most
merciful in Christ, and therefore not to be worshipped despairingly,
but in joyful hope. 9. God is true and faithful, and therefore to be
worshipped believingly and confidently, and not in distrust and
unbelief. 10. God is most holy, and therefore to be worshipped by
holy persons, in a holy manner, and not by unholy hearts or lips, nor
in a common manner, as if we had to do but with a man. 11. He is the
Maker of your souls and bodies, and therefore to be worshipped both
with soul and body. 12. He is your Redeemer and Saviour, and therefore
to be worshipped by you as sinners in the humble sense of your sin and
misery, and as redeemed ones in the thankful sense of his mercy, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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