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A26955
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The mischiefs of self-ignorance and the benefits of self-acquaintance opened in divers sermons at Dunstan's-West and published in answer to the accusations of some and the desires of others / by Richard Baxter.
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Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.
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1662
(1662)
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Wing B1309; ESTC R5644
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245,302
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606
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est superbia elati sed confessio non ingrati habere te cognosce nihil ex te habere ut nec superbus sis nec ingratus Dic Deo tuo quoniam sanctus sum quia sanctificasti me quia accepi nonquae habui quia tu dedisti non quae ego merui saith Augustine This is not the Pride of one lift up but the acknowledgement of one that 's not unthankfull Know that thou hast and know that thou hast nothing of thy self that thou maist neither be proud nor yet unthankfull Say to thy God I am holy fer thou hast sanctified me for I have received what I had not and thou hast given me what I deserved not The Thanksgiving of a faithfull soul is so far from being displeasing to God as a Pharisaical ostentation that it is a great and excellent duty and a most sweet and acceptable sacrifice Psal 50.14.23 Offer unto God thaenksgiving He that offereth praise Glorifieth me 8. And as to the Lords Supper what work they are there like to make that are unacquainted with themselvelves you may conjecture from the nature of the work and the command of self-examination and self-judging Though some may be wellcomed by Christ that have faith and love though they doubt of their sincerity and know not themselves to be children of God yet none can be welcome that know not themselves to be sinners condemned by the Law and needing a Saviour to Reconcile and Justifie them Who will be there humbled at the feet of Grace and thankfull for a Redeemer and hunger and thirst for Sacramental benefits that knoweth not his own unworthiness and necessities O what inestimable mercy would appear in a Sacrament to us in the offers of Christ and saving grace and communion with God and with his Saints if our appetites were but quickned by the knowledge of our selves 9. And I beseech you consider whether all your studies and learning and employments be not irrational preposterous and impertinent while you study not first to know your selves You are nearest to your selves and therefore should be best acquainted with your selves What should you more observe then the case of your own souls and what should you know better then what 's within you and what you carry still about you and that which me thinks you should alwayes feel even the bent of your own estimations and affections the sicknesses of your souls your guilt your wants and greatest necessities All your Learning is but the concomitant of your dotage till you know your selves Your wisest studies are but the workings of a distracted mind while you study not your selves and the things of everlasting consequence The wise man was but derided by the standers by that fell over head into a ditch whilst he was busily taking the height of a Star To study whether it be the Sun or Earth that moveth and not consider what motion is predominant in thy soul and life is a pittifull preposterous study To think more what stars are in the firmament then what Grace is in thy heart and what planet reigneth then what disposition reigneth in thy self and whether the Spirit or flesh have the dominion is but to be learnedly besides thy self Illum ego jure Despiciam qui scit quanto sublimior Atlas Omnibus in Lybia sit montibus hic tamen idem Ignoret quantum ferrata distet ab arca Is it not a laborious madness to travail into far Countreys and compass Sea and land to satisfie a curiosity and to be at so much cost and pains to know the scituation government and manners of the Cities and Countreys of the world and in the mean time to be utterly strange at home and never bestow one day or hour in a serious survey of heart and life To carry about a dark unknown neglected soul while they are travelling to know remotest things that less concern them Me thinks it is a pittifull thing to hear men ingeniously discoursing of the quality laws and customs of other Nations and of the affairs of Princes and Common-wealths and of the riches and commodities of Sea and land and to be mute when they should express their acquaintance with themselves either in confession and prayer to God or in any humble experimental conference with men To trade abroad and utterly neglect the trade of godliness at home To keep correspondency with persons of all degrees and to have no correspondence with themselves To keep their shop-books and accounts with diligence and never regard the Book of Conscience nor keep account of that for which they must ere long be accountable to God It s a pittifull thing to see men turn over voluminous histories to know what hath been done from the beginning of the world and regard no more the history of their own lives nor once look back with penitent remorse upon their ungodly careless Conversations nor say What have we done To see men have well-furnish't Libraries and read over a multitude of Books and never read the state and records of their souls Quid juvat immensos scire atque evolvere casus Si facienda fugis si fugienda facis It maketh you but objects of wonder and compassion to read Laws and Records and understand all Cases and never endeavor to understand the Case of your immortal souls To counsell others for their temporal estates and never understand your own spiritual state To study the mysteries of Nature and search into all the works of God except your selves and that which your happiness or misery doth depend on To study the nature and causes and signs of bodily diseases and their several remedies and never study the diseases of your own souls nor the precious remedy which Mercy hath provided you To cure the sicknesses of other mens bodies and never feel a stony proud or sensual heart nor use any care and industry for the cure To know the matters of all Arts and sciences to be able to discourse of them all to the admiration of the hearers is but an aggravation of thy lamentable folly if thou be all this while a stranger to thy self and that because thou art mindless of thy souls condition You would but laugh at such a Learned fool that knew not how to dress himself or eat or drink or go and yet could talk of the profoundest speculations in Metaphysicks or other sciences It is more necessary to know your selves your sin your duty your hopes your dangers then to know how to eat or drink or cloath your selves Alas it is a pittifull kind of knowledge that will not keep you out of Hell and a foolish wisdom that teacheth you not to save your souls Per veram scientiam itur ad disciplinam per disciplinâ—m ad bonitatem per bonitatem ad beattiudinem saith Hugo Till you know your selves the rest of your knowledge is but a confused dream When you know the thing you know not the end and use and worth of it
â—f heaven be enough to make you a felicity â—nd Eternity be long enough for your fruiâ—â—on of it then never think hardly of God â—or any of his chastisements Lazarus reâ—enteth not there that he was poor nor Job â—hat he was covered with sores nor David â—hat he washed his couch with tears and â—hat his sore ran and ceased not The longâ—st of our sorrows will there be reviewed â—s short in respect of our endless joys â—nd the sharpest of our pains as nothing â—o those pleasures Madam experience â—s well as faith assureth me that it is good â—â—r us that we are afflicted And though â—â—r the sake of others I shall earnestly â—eseech the Lord that he will not unseasoâ—ably remove such as you from this unâ—orthy generation yet I doubt not but â—our removal and sufferings in the way â—ill advantage you for your Everlasting Rest And for my self I desire that my loâ—â— may still fall with those that follow Christ through tribulation bearing the cross and crucified to the world and waiting for his appearance desiring to be absent from the body and present with the Lord not with those that are fed as beasts for the slaughter and prosper a while in their iniquity till sudden destruction come upon them and at last their sins do find them out when the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the nations that forget God Psal 9.17 Numb 32.23 1 Thes 5.3 Phil. 3.19 And that these words of life may be engraven upon my heart Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than life Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Rom. 8.28 All things work together for good to them that love God Joh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also Col. 3.3 4. Our life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory and that I may be fit for the Title of the Beloved Apostle Rev. 1.9 though as a servant to you and the Church of God Your Brother and Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ Rich. Baxter Nov. 1. 1661. To my dearly beloved the Inhabitants of the Burrough and Parish of Kederminster in Worcestershire AS I never desired any greater preferment in this world than to have continued in the work of my Ministry among you so I once thought my days would have been ended in that desired station But we are unmeet to tell God how he shall dispose of us or to foreknow what changes he intends to make Though you are low in the world and have not the Riches which cause mens estimation with the most I see no probability that we should have been separated till death could I but have obtained leave to preach for nothing But being forbidden to preach the Gospel in that Diocess I must thankfully take the liberty which shall anywhere else be vouchsafed me And while I may enjoy it I take it not for my duty to be over querulous though the wound that is made by my separation from you be very deep And though to strangers it will seem probable that such severity had never been exercised against me but for some heynous crime yet to you that have known me I shall need to say but little in my defence The great crime which is openly charged on me and for which I am thought unworthy to preach the Gospel even where there is no other to preach is a matter that you are unacquainted with and therefore as you have heard me publikely accused of it I am bound to render you such an account as is necessary to your just information and satisfaction It pleased the Kings Majesty in the prosecution of his most Christian resolution of uniting his differing subjects by the way of mutual approaches and abatements to grant a Commission to twelve Bishops and nine assistants on the one side and to one Bishop and eleven other Divines and nine assistants on the other side to treat about such alterations of the Liturgie as are necessary to the satisfying of tender consciences and to the restoring of unity and peace My experiences in a former Treaty for Reconciliation in matter of Discipline made me intreat those to whom the nomination on the one side was committed to excuse me from the service which I knew would prove troublesome to my self and ungrateful to others but I could not prevail But the Work it self I very much approved as to be done by fitter and more acceptable persons Being commanded by the Kings Commission I took it to be my duty to be faithful and to plead for such Alterations as I knew were necessary to the assigned ends thinking it to be treachery to his Majesty that entrusted us and to the Church and cause for which we were entrusted if under pretence of making such Alterations as were necessary to the two forementioned ends I should have silently yielded to have No Alterations or next to none In the conclusion when the chief work was done by writing a Committee of each part was appointed to manage a Disputation in presence by writing also Therein those of the other part formed an Argument whose Major proposition was to this sense for I have no copy Whatsoever book enjoyneth nothing but what is of it self lawful and by lawful authority enjoyneth nothing that is sinful We denyed this proposition and at last gave divers Reasons of our denyal among which one was that It may be unlawful by Accident and therefore sinful You now know my crime It is my concurring with learned reverend Brethren to give this Reason of our denyal of a proposition Yet they are not forbidden to preach for it and I hope shall not be but only I. You have publikely heard from a mouth that should speak nothing but the words of Charity Truth and Soberness especially there that this was a desperate shift that men at the last extremity are forced to and inferring that then neither God nor man can enjoyn without sin In City and Country this soundeth forth to my reproach I should take it for an act of clemency to have been smitten professedly for nothing and that it might not have been thought necessary to afflict me by a defamation that so I might seem justly afflicted by a prohibition to preach the Gospel But indeed is there in these words of ours so great a crime Though we doubted not but they knew that our Assertion made not Every evil accident to be such as made an Imposition unlawful yet we exprest this by word to them at that time for fear of being misreported and I told it to the Right Reverend Bishop when he forbad me to preach and gave this as a reason And I must confess I am still guilty of so much weakness as to be confident that some things not evil of themselves may have Accidents so evil as may