Part 1 › Chapter 3 › Direction 10 › Directions for faithful serving Christ, and doing Good., A Christian Directory by Richard Baxter (1673) | AskReformation

Skip to content

:1264p. 135

Answ. 1. There must be an integrity of causes, or concurrence of all necessaries to make up Obedience, though the want of any one will make a sin: If you will be called Obedient, you must have the matter and form, because the true form is found in no other matter: You must do the thing commanded because of his Authority that commandeth it. If it may be called really and formally Obedience, when you err, yet it is not that obedience which is acceptable: For it is not any kind of obedience, but obedience in the thing commanded that God requireth. 2. But indeed as long as you err sinfully, you are also wanting in the form as well as the matter of your obedience, though you intend Obedience in the particular act. It is not only a wilful opposing, and positive rejecting the Authority of the Commander, which is formal disobedience: but it is any Privation of due subjection to it; when his Authority is not so regarded as it ought to be; and doth not so powerfully and effectually move us to our duty as it ought. Now this formal disobedience is found in your erroneous Conscience: For if Gods Authority had moved you as it should have done, to diligent enquiry and use of all appointed means, and to the avoiding of all the causes of error, you had never erred about your duty. For if the error had been perfectly involuntary and blameless, the thing could not have been your particular duty, which you could not possibly come to know.¹

Answ. 1. There must be an integrity of causes, or concurrence of all necessaries to make up Obedience, though the want of any one will make a sin: If you will be called Obedient, you must have the matter and form, because the true form is found in no other matter: You must do the thing commanded because of his Authority that commandeth it. If it may be called really and formally Obedience, when you err, yet it is not that obedience which is acceptable: For it is not any kind of obedience, but obedience in the thing commanded that God requireth. 2. But indeed as long as you err sinfully, you are also wanting in the form as well as the matter of your obedience, though you intend Obedience in the particular act. It is not only a willful opposing, and positive rejecting the Authority of the Commander, which is formal disobedience: but it is any Privation of due subjection to it; when his Authority is not so regarded as it ought to be; and doth not so powerfully and effectually move us to our duty as it ought. Now this formal disobedience is found in your erroneous Conscience: For if Gods Authority had moved you as it should have done, to diligent enquiry and use of all appointed means, and to the avoiding of all the causes of error, you had never erred about your duty. For if the error had been perfectly involuntary and blameless, the thing could not have been your particular duty, which you could not possibly come to know.¹

1Quest.

:1271p. 136

Answ. 1. Your duty is to avoid both: and if both were not sinful, they would not both be¹ […]ish•d w•th […]: 2. Your Conscience is not your Knowledge when you err, but your Igno[…]. […] •• it signifieth the faculty of Knowing may be said to be Conscience when it erreth; as […] is […] in the ••••ulty when we err. And Conscience as to an erring act, may be called […] so far as there is any true Knowledge in the act; (as a man is said to see when he misjudgeth of […], or to Reason when he argueth amiss) But so far as it erreth it is no Conscience in act at all: •or Conscience is science, and not nescience. You sin against your Knowledge, when you sin against a well informed Conscience; but you sin in ignorance when you sin against an erring […] ▪ 3. And if the Question be not, what is your duty, but which is the smaller sin, then it is true, that […] ••••bus it is a greater sin to go against your judgement, than to follow it. But […] impa•ities in matter and circumstances, may be an exception against this rule.

Answ. 1. Your duty is to avoid both: and if both were not sinful, they would not both be¹ 〈…〉ish•d w•th 〈…〉: 2. Your Conscience is not your Knowledge when you err, but your Igno〈…〉. 〈…〉 •• it signifieth the faculty of Knowing may be said to be Conscience when it erreth; as 〈…〉 is 〈…〉 in the ••••ulty when we err. And Conscience as to an erring act, may be called 〈…〉 so farr as there is any true Knowledge in the act; (as a man is said to see when he misjudgeth of 〈…〉, or to Reas•n when he argueth amiss) But so farr as it erreth it is no Conscience in act at all: •or Conscience is science, and not nescience. You sin against your Knowledge, when you sin against a well in••rmed Conscience; but you sin in ignorance when you sin against an erring 〈…〉 ▪ 3. And if the Question be not, what is your duty, but which is the smaller sin, then it is true, that 〈…〉 ••••bus it is a greater sin to go against your judgement, than to follow it. But 〈…〉 impa•ities in matter and circumstances, may be an exception against this rule.

1[…]〈…〉

:1273p. 136

Answ. 1. Your ignorance is culpable or not culpable. If it be not culpable, the thing which you¹ […] of is not your duty. If culpable (which is the case supposed) as you brought your self in •••• difficulty of knowing, so it will remain your sin till it be cured; and one sin will not war[…]. And all that time you are under a double command, the one is to Know (and use the […] Knowledge) and the other is to do the thing commanded. So that how long soever you ••main i[…] you remain in sin, and are not under an obligation to follow your error, but first to K••w and then to D• the contrary duty. 2. And as long as you keep your self in a necessity, or way •f […], you must call it sin as it is, and not call it duty: It is not your duty to choose a […] a greater, but to refuse and avoid both the lesser and the greater: And if you say, [ […] ▪ ] yet remember that it is only your sin that is your impotency, or your impotency is […]: But it is true that you are most obliged to avoid the greatest sin: Therefore all that re[…] in the resolving, of all such cases is but to •now of two sins which is the greatest.

Answ. 1. Your ignorance is culpable or not culpable. If it be not culpable, the thing which you¹ 〈…〉 of is not your duty. If culpable (which is the case supposed) as you brought your self in •••• difficulty of knowing, so it will remain your sin till it be cured; and one sin will not war〈…〉. And all that time you are under a double command, the one is to Know (and use the 〈…〉 Knowledge) and the other is to do the thing commanded. So that how long soever you ••main i〈…〉 you remain in sin, and are not under an obligation to follow your error, but first to K••w and then to D• the contrary duty. 2. And as long as you keep your self in a necessity, or way •f 〈…〉, you must call it sin as it is, and not call it duty: It is not your duty to choose a 〈…〉 a greater, but to refuse and avoid both the lesser and the greater: And if you say, [ 〈…〉 ▪ ] yet remember that it is only your sin that is your impotency, or your impotency is 〈…〉: But it is true that you are most obliged to avoid the greatest sin: Therefore all that re〈…〉 in the resolving, of all such cases is but to •now of two sins which is the greatest.

1[…].〈…〉.