Christ's Justification of Mary's Choice.' 1684. Cain and Abel Malignity; or, Enmity to serious Godliness, lamented, described, detected,' &c. 1689. This treatise is partly designed to expose the evil of enmity to serious godliness, as the root of all persecution. Preface to Alleine's 'Alarm.' 'A Sermon of Judgment,' preached at St. Paul's, before the lord mayor and aldermen of London, Dec. 17, 1654. Redemption of Time.'m Baxter mentions some circumstances respecting two of these sermons, which illustrate his popularity as a preacher, and are therefore worth the recording. "When I returned home, I was solicited by letters to print many of the sermons which I had preached in London; and in some of them I gratified their desires. One sermon which I published, was against men's making light of Christ, upon Matt. xxii. 5. This sermon was preached at St. Lawrence Jewry, where Mr. Vines was pastor; where, though I sent the day before to secure room for the Lord Broghill and the Earl of Suffolk, with whom I was to go in the coach; yet when I came, the crowd had so little respect to persons, that they were fain to go home again, because they would not come within hearing. The old Earl of Warwick, who stood in the lobby, brought me home again; and Mr. Vines himself was fain to get up into the pulpit and sit behind me, and I stood between his legs; which I mention, that the reader may understand that verse in my poem concerning him, which is printed, where I say that, 'At once one pulpit held us both.' Another of those sermons which I published, was a sermon of judgment, which I enlarged into a small treatise. This was preached at St. Paul's at the desire of Sir Christopher Pack, then lord mayor, to the greatest auditory that ever I saw."n It is impossible to survey the class of writings which we have thus briefly brought under review, without admiring the goodness and wisdom of God, in raising up a man capable of producing them. With all the imperfections belonging to them as human performances, written often in haste, and amidst the distractions of a period of great affliction and agitation, where shall we find, in the wide range of human literature, so large a portion of powerful and heart-stirring appeal? They comprise deeply interesting and comprehensive views of the guilt and I Works, vol. x. n 1 Ibid. k Ibid. m Ibid. misery of man, and the divine provision of mercy through a Saviour; of the awful punishment which awaits the wicked, and of the immortal blessedness provided for the righteous. These topics are interwoven, in general, with great address, with every thing that is tender in entreaty, solemn in warning, and faithful in reproof and expostulation. Baxter appeals not to the passions only, but to the judgment. His aim is to convince the understanding, as well as to subdue the heart. He calculated on no impressions being lasting or useful, but those which were produced by enlightened views of truth and error, holiness and sin, time and eternity. He dealt not in noisy and vapid declamation; but in sound and persuasive argument. He felt the goodness of his cause, and the weight of the reasons which he could adduce in its support, and with a giant's strength, and an angel's earnestness, he urged the subject home on every man's bosom and business. It will probably be remarked, that in these discourses there is a larger portion of the Law than of the Gospel; and that they are more calculated to operate on the fears than on the hopes of men. While I admit this to be true, I doubt whether it ought to be regarded as a fault. The object of the author is to awaken and convince; he therefore went, what he considered to be, the straightforward road to it. He did not conceal the promises of the Gospel, but they did not constitute the chief topics of his preaching to men whom he wished to rouse. Judging by the success attending his labours, which arose, there is reason to believe, from the great plainness and fidelity with which he warned men, instead of censuring, it would be well to imitate the style of his preaching. He was never afraid of carrying the warmth and energy of his appeals too far. He often complains of his own coldness, but never of the excess of his zeal. The charge of fanaticism gave him no concern. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, he cared nothing for the displeasure or the frown of men, but made it his grand concern to be found faithful. To win souls was his object; the gaining of them was his reward. Nor did he lose his aim. If few men have laboured harder, or under greater bodily suffering, or more severe reproach, few, indeed, have enjoyed a richer reward. In the many fruits of his labours, he could exult even while on earth; they now constitute his crown of rejoicing in heaven, CHAPTER IV. WORKS ON CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. Introductory Remarks- Right Method for settled Peace of Conscience '— Colonel Bridges- The Crucifying of the World'-Thomas Foley, Esq.Treatise on Self-Denial'-' Obedient Patience '-' Life of Faith '-' Knowledge and Love compared '-Sir Henry and Lady Diana Ashurst- God's Goodness Vindicated'-Various Discourses- Cure of Melancholy'—Baxter's Experience among Persons thus afflicted-Conclusion. If the works noticed in the preceding chapter, show how admirably qualified Baxter was for dealing with the unconverted, and how powerfully and successfully he d rected his energies to benefit them, the present chapter will bring before the reader, a class of books which equally illustrates his capacity for instructing and edifying Christians, and shows that this branch of the Christian ministry was cultivated by him no less than the former. When a sinner has been converted from the error of his ways, only the first step has been taken towards the kingdom of heaven. His knowledge probably extends but to the merest elements of religion; or to those first truths, which as they are the simplest, so are they the most powerfully calculated to interest the understanding, and engage the affections. His perceptions of the extent of his wretchedness and danger, and of the divine suitableness of Heaven's plan of recovery, comprehend, perhaps, all that is true, and yet embrace but a narrow range. As he becomes familiar with these, he perceives their connexion with other subjects, more difficult and complex. His mind requires fresh excitement to counteract its natural bias, to prevent its return to former pursuits and habits, and to carry it on in the new course into which it has been led.. But new discoveries of truth, and of the way of righteousness, are not the only discoveries which a man comes to make in the progress of Christianity. He makes discoveries of the depravity and deceitfulness of his heart, for which he was not at first, perhaps, at all prepared; which astound and perplex him, lead him to question his own sincerity, the reality of the change which he supposes had taken place in his mind; and thus bring him into deep distress. His conscience is wounded, his spirits are depressed, and his confidence in the adaptation of the Gospel remedy, or in his right to use it, is very considerably abated. Much skill is required in the treatment of persons in this state. Severity or tenderness, when unduly or improperly exercised, may be almost equally injurious. The one may create despondency and desperation; the other may soothe and quiet a wound without healing it. In some cases it is necessary to apply a sedative, in others a stimulus. The sensibility of some is quicker than their understandings; the judgment of such must be informed. In other cases the mind is sufficiently enlightened, but the conscience is not properly under its guidance; the moral faculties of such must be the chief object of attention. Some instructors, like quacks in medicine, have a spiritual panacea for every case. This they apply without judgment or discrimination, healing some, and killing others; but in both the professions, while the cures are magnified and blazoned, we hear as little as possible of the deaths which are inflicted. Christianity is perfectly adapted to all the diversified forms of evil which can or do occur among men. If it were not, it would not be what the Scriptures represent it-the fruit of Jehovah's highest wisdom, the profoundest display of his goodness to creatures; and therefore worthy of the reception of every human being to whom it is addressed. Hence the great business of the Christian ministry, in relation to believers, is, to unfold the various parts of this infinitely wise and beneficent scheme; to obviate the difficulties arising from their imperfect acquaintance with it; to illustrate the relative connexion and harmony of its various principles, and the holy tendency and design of all its provisions and enactments. By many ill-informed persons, who make a profession of religion, a kind of nausea is felt, when the subject of Christian experience is mentioned. It is instantly regarded as the cant of a party, or as something akin to fanaticism. At all events it is set down as what belongs only to the weaker portion of the religious community, or is charitably ascribed to an oversensitive conscience, or the undue cultivation of a spirituality which is not adapted to present circumstances. The subject is therefore discarded, as unworthy of attention from men of more enlarged and cultivated minds. It is readily granted that the subject has been abused; that a phraseology has been employed in treating it both disgusting and absurd; that it has been substituted in the place of the higher morals of religion, and treated as if it were compatible with outward carelessness and even gross misconduct. Still it would be as foolish to deny the existence of what is commonly called Christian experience, as to deny that individuals who are under a process of cure or healing, have any consciousness of the effects which are produced by the medicines that are prescribed to them. If the Gospel is destined and fitted to act as a remedy, there must be a sensible experience to correspond with it. There must be a consciousness of the effects if the truth has exerted a searching power on the conscience, a healing influence on the heart, and a transforming operation on the whole character. If it has infused a new principle of life into the soul, giving a new tone and direction to its thoughts and pursuits, and surrounding it by a healthier and holier atmosphere than it ever before breathed, there must be some knowledge of all this. As the process of divine influence advances or retrogrades; as it experiences checks from within, or counteractions from without; as there is a vigorous and persevering co-operation on our part with God's revealed purposes and plans, or a state of inactivity or positive resistance, so will the work of salvation be advancing or receding. Now all this makes up what we understand by religious experience, or the Christian life, to cultivate which both the ministry and writings of Baxter were devoted. The first work on this subject which he published is, his "Right Method for Settled Peace of Conscience and Spiritual Comfort.' 1653. 12mo. This was the fourth of Baxter's publications, and was occasioned, chiefly, by the lady of Colonel John Bridges, for whose benefit, in the first instance, it was composed and printed. He accordingly dedicates it to Colonel and Mrs. Bridges, and to Mr. and Mrs. Foley, all of whom were persons in opulent circumstances, who belonged to his congregation at Kidderminster. "Though one only," he says, "had the original interest in these papers, I now direct them to you all, as not • Works, vol. ix. |