Select Practical Writings of Richard Baxter: With a Life of the Author - Richard Baxter - Google Books

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Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1831, by DURRIE & PECK,
in the Clerk's office, of the District Court of Connecticut.

Printed by Hezekiah Howe.

CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

THE CHARACTER OF A SOUND, CONFIRMED CHRISTIAN.

The Characters of a strong, confirmed Christian.

1. He liveth by such a faith of unseen things that governeth his soul instead

2. He bath cogent reasons for his religion

3. He seeth the well-ordered frame of sacred verities, and the integral parts

in their harmony or concert; and settest not up one truth against another 24

4. He adhereth to them, and practiseth them, from an inward con-natural

principle, called “the Divine nature,” and “the Spirit of Christ”

5. He serveth not God for fear only, but for love

6. He loveth God, 1. Much for his goodnes to himself. 2. And more for his

goodness to the church. 3. And most of all for his essential goodness and

7. He taketh this love and its expressions, for the heart and height of all his

8. He hath absolutely put his soul, and all his hopes into the hand of Christ,

and liveth by faith upon him as his Savior

9. He taketh Christ as the Teacher sent from God, and his doctrine for the

truest wisdom, and learneth of none but in subordination to him

10. His repentance is universal and effectual, and hath gone to the root of

11. He loveth the light, as it sheweth him his sin and duty, and is willing to

know the worst of sin, and the most of duty

12. He desireth the highest degree of holiness, and hath no sin which he had

not rather leave than keep, and had rather be the best, though in poverty,

than the greatest in prosperity

13. He liveth upon God and heaven as the end, reward, and motive of his life 39

14. He counteth no cost or pains too great for the obtaining it, and hath nothing

so dear which he cannot part with for it

15. He is daily exercised in the practice of self-denial, as (next to the love of

God) the second half of his religion

16. He hath mortitied his fleshly desires, and so far mastereth his senses and ap-

petite, that they make not his obedience very uneasy or uneven

17. He preferreth the means of his holiness and happiness, incomparably before

all provisions and pleasures of the flesh

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18. He is crucified to the world, and the world to bim by the cross of Christ, and

contemneth it through the belief of the greater things of the life to come

19. He forseeth the end in all his ways, and judgeth of all things as they will

20. He liveth upon God alone, and is content with his favor and approbation,

without the approbation and favor of men

21. He hath absolutely devoted himself, and all that he hath to God, to be used

according to his will

22. He hath a readiness to obey, and a quick and pleasant compliance of his will

to the will of God

23. He delighteth himself more in God, and heaven, and Christ, and holiness,

than in all the world : religion is not tedious and grievous to him

24. He is conscious of his own sincerity, and assured of his justification, and title

to everlasting joys

25. This assurance doth not make him more careless and remiss, but increaseth

his love and holy diligence

26. Yet he abhorreth pride as the firstborn of the devil, and is very low and

vile in his own eyes, and can easily endure to be low and vile in the eyes,

27. Being acquainted with the deceitfulness of the heart, and the methods of

temptation, he liveth as among snares, and enemies, and dangers, in a con-

stant watch; and can conquer many and subtle, and great temptations

(through grace)

28. He hath counted what it may cost him to be saved, and hath resolved not to

stick at suffering, but to bear the cross and be conformed to his crucified

Lord, and hath already in heart forsaken all for hiin

29. He is not a Christian only for company or carnal ends, or upon trust of other

men's opinions, and therefore would be true to Christ, if his rulers, his teach-

his company, and all that he knoweth should forsake him.

30. He can digest the hardest truths of Scripture, and the hardest passages of

God's providence

31. He can exercise all his graces in harmony, without neglecting one to use

another, or setting one against another

32. He is more in getting and using grace, than in inquiring whether we have

it, (though he do that also in its place)

33. He studieth duty more than events, and is more careful what he should be

towards God, than how he shall here be used by him

34. He is more regardsul of his duty to others, than of theirs to him, and had

much rather suffer wrong than do it

35 He keepeth up a constant government of his thoughts, restraining them

from evil, and using them upon God, and for him

36. He keepeth a constant government over his passions, so far as that they per-

vert not his judgment, his heart lois tongue or actions

37. He governeth his tongue, employing it for God, and restraining it evil

38. Heart-work and heaven-work are the principal matters of his religious dis-

course, and not barren controversies or impertinences

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39. He liveth upon the common great substantials of religion, and yet will not

deny the smallest truth, or commit the smallest sin, for any price that man

40. He is a high esteemer, and careful redeemer of time, and abhorreth idle-

ness and diversions which would rob him of it

41. His heart is set upon doing all the good in the world that he is able : it is his

daily business and delight

42. He truly loveth his neighbor as himself

43. He hath a special love to all godly Christians as such, and such as will not

stick at cost in its due expressions ; nor be turned into bitterness by tolera-

ble differences

44. He forgiveth injuries, and loveth his enemies, and doth them all the good he

can: from the sense of the love of Christ to him

45. He doth as he would be done by; and is as precise in the justice of his deal-

ings with men, as in acts of piety to God

46. He is faithful and laborious in his outward trade or calling, not out of cov-

etousness, but obedience to God

47. He is very conscionable in the duties of his several relations, in his family

or other society, as a superior, inferior, or equal

43. He is the best subject, whether his rulers be good or bad, though infidel and

ungodly rulers may mistake, and use him as the worst

49. His trust in God doth overcome the fear of man, and settle him in a con-

stant sortitude for God

50. Judgment and zeal conjunct are his constitution; his judgment kindleth

zeal, and his zeal is still judicious

51. He can bear the infirmities of the weak, and their censures and abuses of

himself; and requiteth them not with uncharitable censure or reproach 106

52. He is a high esteemer of the unity of Christians, and abhorreth the prin-

ciples, spirit, and practices of division

53. He sceketh the church's unity and concord, not upon partial, unrighteous,

or impossible, but upon the possible, righteous terms here mentioned

54. He is of a mellow, peaceable spirit; not masterly, domineering, hurtful,

unquiet, or contentious

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55. He most highly regardeth the interest of God, and men's salvation in the

world; and regardeth no secular interest of his own, or any man's, but

in subserviency thereto

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56. He is usually hated for his holiness by the wicked, and censured for his

charity and peaceableness by the factious and the weak; and is moved by

neither from the way of truth

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57. Though he abhor ungodly, soul-destroying ministers, yet he reverenceth

the office as necessary to the church and world; and highly valueth the

the holy, faithful laborers

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58. He hath great experience of the providence, truth, and justice of God, to

fortify him against temptations to unbelief

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59. Though he greatly desireth lively affections and gifts, yet he much more

valucth the three essential parts of holiness, 1. A high estimation in the un-

Page.
derstanding of God, Christ, holiness, and heaven, above all that be set in
any competition. 2. A resolved choice and adhesion of the will, to these
above and against all competitors. 3. The seeking them first, in the endeav-
ors of the life. And by these he judgeth of the sincerity of his heart.

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60. He is all his life seriously preparing for his death, as if it were at hand;

and is ready to receive the sentence with joy; but especially he longeth for

the blessed day of Christ's appearing, as the answer of all his desires and

Six uses of these characters

DYING THOUGHTS. UPON Phil. i. 23.

DOCTRINE I. That the souls of believers when departed hence shall be with

1. The necessity of believing this

II. Whether it be best believing it without consideration of the difficulties or

III. The certainty of it manifested

i. From the immortality of the soul, which is proved

ii. It is a natural notice

iit. From the duty of all men to seek a future happiness

iv. From man's capacity of knowing God

v. From God's governing justice

vi. From revelation supernatural

ibid.

vii. From God's answering prayers

viii. From our present communion with angels

ix. From Satans' temptations, &c.

x. Specially from the operations of God's Spirit on our souls

BEING WITH CHRIST

I. What is included in one being with Christ

II. We must DEPART that we may be with Christ

DOCTRINE II. To depart and be with Christ is far better

I. Simply better, and properly, as it is the fulfilling of God's will

II. Analogically better, as it tendeth to the perfection of the universe, and the
church

ibid.

III. Better to myself, as to my own felicity

Which is proved I. By general reasons from the efficients and means ibid

II. The final reasons

III. The constitutive reasons from the state of my intellect

IV. The constitutive reasons from the state of my will

V. The constitutive reasons from one heavenly practice

The concluding application

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