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A26919
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The divine life in three treatises ... by Richard Baxter.
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Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.
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1664
(1664)
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Wing B1254; ESTC R3168
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316,514
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416
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doth sweetly relish and take pleasure in as we would do to hear an Angel speak of the Holy things of the invisible Glory 3 And Relative Holiness it self though the lowest must be H 〈…〉 ured by us Holy offices and persons in them must be Re 〈…〉 d for their Relative Holiness Holy dayes must be holily 〈…〉 rved Holy Ordinances which also participate of the 〈…〉 of the Law as significative must be reverently used Due reverence must be given even to that which is lawfully by men â—â—voted to a Holy use as are Temples and Utensils of worship and the maintenance dedicated to the service of God That which is Holy must not be devoured Prov. 20. 25. nor used as we do things common and unclean â— Gods Holiness must make us Holy we must fall in Love with it and wholly conform our selves unto it Every part of Sanctifying grace must be entertained and cherished and excited and used by us Sin must be loathsome to us because it is contrary to the Holiness of God No Toad or Snake should seem to us so ugly A dead carkass is an unpleasant sight because it sheweth us a privation of natural life But an unholy soul is incomparably a more loathsome ghastly sight because it sheweth us the privation of the life of Holiness No man can well know the odiousness of sin and the misery and loathsomeness of the unholy soul that knoweth not the Holiness of God Speak unto all the Congregation of Israel and say unto them Ye shall be Holy for I the Lord your God am Holy Lev. 19. 2. Sanctifie your selves therefore and be ye Holy for I am the Lord your God Lev. 20. 7 8. As be that hath called us is Holy so must we be holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1. 25. It is an holy calling wherewith we are called 2 Tâ—â— 1. 9. We are sanctified to be a peculiar people to Christ Tit. 2. 14. That denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world ver 12. We are made an Holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5. Rom. 12. 1 2. We must therefore present our bodies a living sacrifice Holy acceptable to God our reasonable service For we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be Holy and without blame Ephes. 1. 4. and are Redeemed and Sanctified by Christ that we may be presented Glorious Holy and without blemish Ephes. 5. 26 27. See therefore that you follow Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Heb. 12. 14. For Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see him Mat. 5. 8. 3. The Holiness of God must be to us a standing unanswerable Argument to shun all temptations that would draw us to be unholy and to confound all the words of wicded men that are spoken against Holiness Remember but that God is Holy and if thou like that which is spoken against God thou art his Enemy Think on the Prophesie of Henoch Jude 14. 15. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his holy Name in vain much less that blasphemeth Holiness which is the perfection of his blessed nature 4. The Holiness of God must possess us with a sense of our Uncleanness and further our Humiliation When Isaiah heard the Seraphims cry Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory Isa. 6. 3 He said Woe is mee for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts v. 5. 5. The Holiness of God must cause us to walk continually in his Fear and to take heed to all the affections of our souls and even to the manner of our behaviour when we come near to him in his Holy Worship What suffered the Beâ—shemiâ—es for unreverent looking into the Holy Ark 1 Sam 6. 19. and Uzzah but for touching it And what a dreadful example is that of the two Sons of Aaron that were slain by a devouâ—ing fire from the Lord for offering strange fire which he commanded not Lev. 10. 1 2. And Aaron was awed into silence by this account from God I will be sanctified in them that come nigh mee and before all the people I will be glorified v. 3. Take heed lest unreverence or deadness or customary heartless wordy services should be brought before a Holy God Take heed of hypocritical carnal worship The Holy God will not be mocked with complements and shews CHAP. XIX 18. THe next Attribute of God to be spoken of is His Veracity Truth and Faithfulness This is the result of his perfect Wisdome Goodness and Omnipotency For because he is most Wise and Powerful he cannot be Necessitated to Lye And because he is most Good he will not Lye Though God speaketh by none but a Created Voice and signifie his Will to us by men that in themselves considered are defectible yet what he maketh his Voice shall speak Truth and what he chooseth to signifie his Will shall truly signifie it He therefore condemneth Lying in man because it is contrary to his own Veracity For if any should say that God is under no Law and therefore is not bound to speak Ttuth or not deceive a Prophet or Apostle by his Inspirations I answer that he hateth Lying as contrary to his Perfect Nature and is himself against it and cannot possibly be guilty of it because of his own Perfection and not because he is under a Law Lying comes from some Imperfection either of Knowledge Power or Goodness which can none of them befall the Lord. The Goodness of the Creature is a Goodness of Conformity to an Obliging Law and the Goodness of the Law is a Goodness of Conformity to and expression of the Good Will of God But the Goodness of God is a Perfection of Essence the Primitive Goodness which is the Fountain and Standard and End of all other Good and not a Goodness of Conformity to another And this Attribute of God is of very great use to his servants 1. From hence we must be Resolved for Duty and for a holy heavenly life because the Commands of God are serious and his Promises and Threatnings True If God were not True that tells us of these great Eternal things then might we excuse our selves from Godliness and justifie the worldling in his sensual way There is nothing of common sense and reason that can be said against a Holy life by a man that denieth not the Truth of God or of his Word And to deny Gods Truth
6. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake For so is the will of God 1 Pet. 2. 13 15. Deut. 1. 16 17. Judge righteously between every man and his brother ye shall not respect persons in judgement but shall hear the small as well as the great you shall not be afraid of the face of man for the judgement is Gods 2 Chron. 19 5 6 7. And he said to the Judges Take heed what ye do for you judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgement wherefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you But our Atheistical Politicians would teach Rulers that they are none of the Ministers of God and that they judge for man only and not for him The nature of all true obedience is such as Paul describeth in children and servants Eph. 6. 1 6 7 8. that setcheth its rise and motives from the Lord Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good-will doing service as to the Lord and not to men So Colos. 3. 22 23. 7. Hence also you must learn that Gods authority is the highest authority and there is indeed no such thing in the world as true authority that is against him or not subordinate unto him And therefore if men command us to disobey God by neglecting that which is hic nunc a duty or by sinning against him their commands are from a disobedient will of their own but from no Authority and it is better in such cases to obey God then man Act. 5. 29. so many Prophets Apostles and other Martyrs would not have been sacrificed by the fury of Persecutors if they had thought it just to obey them before God God never gave any man Authority against him Nor to nullifie his laws The acts of a Justice or Constable against the King or beyond their power are private or rebellious acts and not Authoritative And so are the Laws of men that are against God Yet note well that though we must rather disobey men then God yet we may not forcibly Resist when we may not obey them And in some cases as if a King would ravish a woman or the like when it is lawful to Resist his fact it is not lawful to Resist his State and disturb the Government of the Commonwealth Obey men chearfully when God forbids it not but see that God be your Absolute Soveraign whose Laws can be dispensed with by none If Parents or Masters command you to break the Laws of God obey them not Despise them not but humbly deprecate their displeasure and obey them in all other things but in the unlawful thing obey them not no not if they were the greatest Princes upon earth But say as the three witnesses of God Dan. 3. 16 17. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hands O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy Gods nor worship thy golden Image which thou hast set up What I have said of Magistrates in the two last cases I mean also of Pastours of the Church They must be obeyed in and for the Lord but not against the Lord. Saith Paul of the Churches of Maceâ—onia 2 Cor. 8. 5. They gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God See Act. 20. 28. 1 Thes. 5. 12. Luk. 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And yet the leaven of the Pharisees must be avoided and an Angel from Heaven be held as accursed if he should preach another Gospel Gal. 1. 8. And I would not have flatterers to set either Princes or Pastours above the Angels of Heaven Though yet in other respects we may be still obliged as I said before to hear and to obey them 8. And the Knowledge of Gods soveraignty must teach us to fear his righteous Threatnings and reverence his Justice and prepare our selves to be judged by him He ruleth by his Laws and so by Threatnings and Promises which he will make good It is not a painted fire that he Threatneth Judgement is a part of Government Laws are but shadows if there be no execution O worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness fear before him all the earth Say among the Heathen that the Lord reigneth Psal. 96. 9 10 As his promises so his peremptory threatnings shall be fulfilled He will not revoke his stablished Laws for fear of hurting willful sinners that will not fear his judgements till they feel them Psal. 33. 8. Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in aw of him for he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Mark also the present judgements of the Lord and rush not on his indignation For the Lord is known by the judgements which he executeth the wicked is oft snared in the work of his own hands Psal. 9. 16. Though the wicked contemn God and say in his heart Thou wilt not require it Psal. 10. 13. yet they shall find that he beholdeth mischief to requite it with his hand and that he is the helper of the fatherless and poor that commit themselves unto him ver 14. The Lords throne is in heaven his eyes behold his eyelids try the children of men the Lord tryeth the Righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth Psal. 11. 4 5. 9. The Soveraignty of God is a comfort to his loyal subjects They may be sure that he will protect them and make good his word Behold he cometh and his reward is with him Rev. 22. 12. The righteous Judge at his appearing will give the Crown of Righteousness to all them that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 18 7 8. O let the Nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the Nations upon earth Psal. 67. 4. Let the Heavens rejoyce and the earth be glad before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth Psal. 69. 11. 13. 10. Lastly the Knowledge of God as our Soveraign King must cause us to desire and pray for and promote the glory of his Kingdome and the obedience of his subjects in the world that his Name may be hallowed by the coming of his Kingdom and the doing of his will on earth as it is in Heaven must be the matter of our daily requests to God It must be the grief of every subject of the Lord to